Code One UK v USA
by janinemayjames
Summary: When the Rangeman Team are called to the UK to assist in a takedown, Stephanie's past comes back to haunt her. Will she cope, or will her world fall down around her? Janet's characters belong to her, mine belong to me - in EVERY chapter! Thank you for all your amazing reviews for 'These Four Walls'. As requested, I'm working on a second chapter! Established Babe, Cupcake Friendly
1. Chapter 1

My name is Stephanie Plum. I've been a lingerie buyer, and a Bond Enforcement Agent. Now however, I work for Rangeman and having completed my Rangeman training, I went out in the field, and I also managed all the case files. To be honest, I didn't really need the full training course but that is a whole other story.

For a long time, I had a complicated relationship with two men in my life but after one particular incident where I'd caused him to dislocate and fracture his shoulder, me and my long term on and off again cop Joe Morelli called it a day. It took a while to get to the point where I liked him again and he almost supported me being with Ranger.

Me and Ranger had been through a lot since then, we both nearly lost our lives in different jobs and it drew us closer together than ever before. I'm not sure when but Ranger dropped the whole idea that he couldn't be in a relationship, So he finally stopped pushing me away and we were due to get married next year.

I was sitting in my office writing up case analysis for our last job when Tank knocked on the door.

I spun round in my chair and waved him in.

"Hey Bomber"

"Hey Tank. What can I do you for?"

"Ranger just called in to the 5th floor comms room, he's asked us all to meet in the board room in 15 minutes. Are you ok? He said he tried calling you direct but it kept bouncing down to us."

I smiled. "I'm fine Tank, I just really needed to get these case notes done so I came off the phone loop"

"That's ok then. Boss is on his way back from a client meeting he wants to discuss with the core team."

"That was a freakin' early call out. He left at the crack of dawn this morning. It's only 6am now!"

"I know. How comes you're up?"

I blinked and blushed. "Uhmm. I couldn't get back to sleep after he woke up this morning"

Thank let out a hearty laugh. "Riiiiight"

I quickly changed the subject.

"Did he say what it was about?"

"No, he was pretty cryptic to be honest"

I rolled my eyes. "When is he not?!"

Tank chuckled softly. "This is true. You're hardly engaged to an over-sharer"

"Definitely not! I'll see you down in the board room. I'm nearly done here"

"Over and out"

I smiled to myself as he shut the door behind him. I loved my team and I loved my job here. I'd always been able to read people well and pick up on things other people missed. Ranger called them my spidey senses. Turns out with some extra practice I was still a talented computer hacker (still...again...long story. We'll get there!) and I worked mainly in Client Intelligence.

I tidied up the file I'd been working on and put it in my drawer before heading to the lift and down to the 5th floor where the comms room and board room were.

The core team were all gathered. Me, Tank, Lester, Hal, Cal, Ram and Bobby. I'd just sat down when Ranger came in, kissed me on the top of my head and sat down next to me.

"Ok guys, I've just come back from a meeting with two representatives from British Intelligence. They've tracked down someone in the UK who looks like he might belong to us"

I raised an eyebrow and went to ask who it was but Ric continued.

"Alec O'Garra"

My blood ran cold. That was a name I didn't think I'd hear ever again.

"You ok babe? All the colour just drained from your face"

"Huh? Yeah, I'm ok. Just zoned out for a second. Sorry. Carry on"

"Ok. He'd been involved in some kind of drug smuggling ring but he dropped off the face of the earth. Covert American Surveillance picked up Alec O'Garra's face in London. Rangeman have been asked to track him down as it's more subtle than sending in one of the alphabet agencies, so it means travelling to London"

Lester tried to chime in something about British babes but Tank slapped him round the side of the head before he could finish.

Ric turned to me. "Babe, I've sent you his profile and all the intel the British team have collected on him so far. He's staying pretty deep underground but I think between us and them, we should be able to track him down. I've also sent you the British team's information. They're alot like us with a smaller set up but they handle much larger Government contracts. Since we know nothing about them, I don't want to take any chances so let me know what you think"

I nodded. I didn't need the file on Alec O'Garra. I knew far more than anyone would ever know.

He turned back to the rest of the team and told us we'd be flying out in two days time and hopefully we'll be coming back after a week or so.

"That's all. Back to work"

The team filed out.

"I've had Ella whip up some breakfast, so let's head back to the apartment and we can go over the files together"

"Okey dokey boss man"

He just looked at me with a half smirk on his face. "Babe"

I smiled back at him before following him out of the room and into the lift up to our 7th floor apartment. Fuck fuck fuck! How was I going to keep this all from unravelling?!


	2. Chapter 2

***Chapter 2 - Across the pond***

My name is Rebecca Blake, Becca or Bec for short. Head of a specialised security unit Code One. We work in and around several government agencies, bringing specialist skills to the table with some abilities the other agencies don't have since they have to operate inside the law. We don't.

I've been slightly obsessed with Sherlock Holmes since I was a child. Hound of the Baskervilles was the first book my dad ever read me. Much to my mother's disappointment. "Why can't you just read her Cinderella?!" She'd ask him. And in his broad Jordie accent he'd reply "I'll be damned if any little girl of mine is gonna grow up thinkin' she needs a prince to save her".

My husband Ollie was a military intelligence officer in the British Army before he was injured during what turned into his last tour. He now ran Code One along with myself, Danny, an ex royal marine with a slightly questionable military record, Lenny, a legal professional and linguist with a background in international Law and 8 languages behind him, Frank, our very own version of Q from James Bond - picked up by UK Intelligence for attempting to hack confidential information so they gave him the opportunity to work on the inside and Abi, our team medic.

We'd been working together for about 3 years now but we were a tight knit family and worked like a well oiled machine.

This morning, I'd had a call from one of our agency handlers.

"Becca"

"Jake, how's all?

"Not bad, you?"

"Can't complain love, can't complain"

"Good good"

"what we got?"

"It's a complicated one. Are you free to come down to the office?"

"Sure. Just me, Or the whole team?"

"Just you for now. I'll give you all the info and you can relay it"

"OK, can you give me an hour? It was a late one last night finishing up that last case. Need coffee"

Jake let out a hearty laugh "sure. I'll see you at 10.30?

"Perfect!"

Jake Bassett was about 55 years old and had worked all over the world. Whilst incredibly tough on the job, he was as soft as a puppy around me. After the first case, he'd kind of taken me under his wing. He was like my favourite older brother and his wife and kids were fantastic. Me and Ollie often spent summer evenings at theirs, BBQing and drinking cider till the early hours.

I arrived at the office that Jake and his team were based out of. After clearing security at the entrance, I turned the corner and spotted Jake standing slightly slumped against the door frame with a steaming hot cup of coffee in his hand and I breathed a sigh as I smiled. He knew me too well. I took a big breath in as my nose hovered over the mug and my hands wrapped around the warmth. It was March and the weather still didn't seem to want to get anywhere near double digits.

"Thanks for coming in. Guessing you didn't get much sleep last night"

"Not until about 1am. Danny insisted we celebrate finishing the last case and Lenny cracked open a bottle of Prosecco, which without me realising, had actually come from a box of 6. Between me, the guys and Abi, there was a straw floating in the bottom of the last bottle when I woke up this morning"

"Sounds like a good celebration. What was the case?"

I let out a snorted laugh. Despite us having the same security clearance, there were just some cases where I couldn't tell him what had gone on.

"Slightly above your pay grade I'm afraid!"

Jake held his hands up as if to surrender to conversation. "Aahh, one of "those"!

"What can we do for you Jake?"

"This came across my desk late yesterday afternoon"

I picked up the file. An American drug runner, involved in some messed up shit has been picked up on UK soil.

"So we've been asked to track him down?"

"Pretty much. But an American team is going to be joining you"

"Seriously? Why?! We could manage this on our own"

"Yanks aren't taking any chances. They wanna pick him up and escort him back themselves. But since they have no idea where they are when it comes to the big smoke, Code have been called in to assist"

"Fine. But Ollie is going to hate this. He hated the Americans when he was on tour"

"Well he'll have to just play nice. Besides, they'll be on our turf. They can't just go shooting doors down"

"Too damn right. I'll take this back to the team. At least it will be a challenge!"

I gave Jake a quick hug before turning on my heel and heading back out to my car.

Our office wasn't too far from all the main security hubs in London. We'd kitted out an old warehouse unit with glass cube offices for each member of the team, a central comms area that looked like Sherlock's mind palace on speed, a kitchen with all mod cons, a gym with locker and shower rooms, a medical suite and a breakout area.

When I returned the team were huddled in the breakout and the smell of bacon hit me. I died and went to heaven briefly just as Ollie wafted a bacon sandwich in front of me. Dear Lord I loved this man!

Lenny shouted over "what have we got boss lady?"

"American drug runner has been picked up in the UK by covert US surveillance"

"Bloody Yanks. Can't they keep their people in line?" Ollie asked with a hint of resentment.

"Apparently not. Oh and the best part is, they don't think we're capable of bringing him in on his own. They're sending a US team to collect him"

"You're kidding?!"

"'Fraid not. Rangeman Services, according to the file"


	3. Chapter 3

***Chapter 3 - Working Breakfast***

Apparently, Ric had other things on his mind than just breakfast. Before the elevator doors had even closed he had me pinned against the cold metal, his face nuzzled in my neck whispering sweet Spanish, and his hands wrapped around my thighs which seemed to have straddled him with no input from my conscious mind.

It seems the 3 times we had mind blowing gorilla sex last night before passing out at midnight wasn't quite enough for him.

Before we realised what was happening, the doors opened and a polite cough interrupted our moment. We both turned our heads, with me still pinned against the side of the elevator, to see Ella standing there looking slightly flushed.

"Sorry to disturb you Mr Manoso, I can take the stairs"

Ric let out a hearty laugh.

"The apology is all mine Ella, I'm sorry to have embarrassed you"

He straightened himself out before continuing.

"Is breakfast in the room?"

"Yes it is, and some of it is hot so don't waste any more time before eating it!"

I giggled quietly as Ric grabbed my hand and walked me out of the lift.

"Sorry Ella"

"Don't apologise Stephanie, I've never seen him so happy and in love"

I smiled again before waving her off and going into our apartment.

When I first came to Rangeman, Ric's 7th floor apartment had been beautifully decorated but it was lacking that homely feel. Now, Rex was on the counter, spending his days in his wheel and eating hamster nuggets. Some photos of our team were up and a gorgeous overhead picture of both mine and Ric's family taken at our engagement party.

It really did feel like home, even if work was only 2 floors down.

Ella had left us bowls of fruit and yoghurt, Home made pastries and hot coffee.

I picked up the tray and carried it over to the table and Ranger followed with a jug of water.

We sat down and ate in blissful silence. Well mostly silent, since Ella's cooking has always hit the spot with me and I can't help but moan whilst I'm eating.

I looked up at Ric and he had a look of concern in his eye.

"Stephanie. Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yes. I'm fine. Why?"

"You seemed a bit distracted in the meeting"

"Oh. Sorry. I had a text from mom to say grandma isn't well. I'll call her in a bit"

"You can call her now if you want babe. It's ok"

"No. It's fine. If it's an emergency, mom will no doubt call"

Grandma was fine obviously. She'll be still going when I'm long gone! I just had to find a way to stop him asking me what was really going on.

Finishing off our breakfast, he moved everything to the kitchen and got the files from his bag before spreading them out over the table.

I took 3 and Ric took 2, leaving Alec's file for us to look over together.

I opened to first file on Rebecca Blake. I read out loud.

"Top of her class all the way through her degree in Criminal Law and Criminology, as well as completing a masters in International security and Cyber Crime"

"Married to Ollie Blake. Ex Military Intelligence, injured after an IED exploded during a tour in Iraq. They set up their team together, and now execute high security clearance contracts for a variety of British Government agencies"

"Ollie has a redacted military file, medical discharge with honours before starting Code One with Rebecca. They were married not long after his accident. His health continues to improve and he's been cleared for active duty again"

"Nothing stands out at me on those two. Quite the power couple"

I continued with Abi.

"Abi Sanchez. Medical degree from Cambridge. 3 years as an Army Medic with two tours of Afghanistan before taking her MSc with Becca and joining Code One. She's the team Medic with full field clearance as well. Anything that stands out in your files?"

Ranger noted nothing in Lenny's file but both Frank and Danny both had redacted security checks which could be troublesome should there be any question of the mission at hand. I explained that I suspected they may be slightly more open in person than their files let on and it would be easier once I'd met them all and could get a better read. I'd do some extra computer work as well but if they were as good as they seemed I got the feeling I'd have issues getting in to their systems without being detected.

Ranger nodded in agreement as he pulled over the file we held on Alec O'Garra.

"40 years old, joined the Army at 18. Worked his way up to Rangers special ops, and mostly ran recovery in hostile territory. Dishonourable discharge for leading his men into a dangerous situation unnecessarily. Lost 3 of his men. Seems to have gotten involved in supply and demand for drug runners"

I stared at the picture for longer than normal.

"Steph?"

"So a power complex and a penchant for not following orders and now he's involved with international drug running. Sounds like a delight"

Ranger grimaced slightly. "He'll be hard to track since he's used to working off the grid. I'm not comfortable with the possibility of having to spend months tracking him down"

"Me either" I said with probably a little more attitude than normal.

"I have to get back to work, Let me know if you think of anything else"

And with that, Ranger left the apartment to head down to his office and I decided I'd go and take some stress off in the gym. I hated running but I enjoyed plugging my iPhone into the speakers and blasting out some Tina Turner whilst I sweated it out on the spin bike. I did 40 minutes before showering and heading up to my office for some quiet time. I'd made it pretty homely up there and it gave me a chance to have some down time away from the guys between them popping in for a chat from time to time.

I'd taken all the files up to my office so sat down to read over them again. I couldn't bring myself to look at Alec's again. I knew all I needed to know.

Then I noticed we'd missed one. Jake Bassett. Code One's agency handler. My eyes glazed over and my room swam around me. I bent over and waited for it to stop. How is this all coming back to haunt me now?! Especially since my past had basically been scrubbed from all searchable records. Shit! I was going to have to make a call. Whether anyone would speak to me was another matter but I needed to try. It looks like my past was about to come full circle and bite me in the ass.

But first, I needed coffee.

I'd just made a pot of French pressed vanilla when my phone rang. It was Morelli.

"Joe"

"Cupcake"

I smiled. He Couldn't shake calling me cupcake. I guess when you've known someone since you were children there's still an unbreakable bond there.

"What's up?"

"I've got a favour to ask. We've got a guy down here that we've picked up for 4 homicides that have happened over the past two months. Same MO, all single women, blonde, aged 25-30. All found dead in their beds from what was made to look like suicide"

"Pretty odd run of coincidences to be suicide"

"That's what we thought. Then DNA trace came back and we found a match across all 4 women. A single kiss just above the hip bone left post-mortem"

I shuddered at the thought of this guy kissing his dead victims in such an intimate area.

"So how can I help?"

"He's not talking. Just keeps saying he didn't do it. We've confronted him with the evidence and he just says it wasn't him. We're getting nowhere so I was hoping you might come down and take a look at the files. Maybe get a read on him?"

I sighed at the thought of the phone calls I was going to have to delay.

"Sure. I'll let the guys know I'm heading out and I'll be with you in 20 mins or so"

"Great. Thank you. We'll grab a coffee at the same time. Would be nice to catch up"

"Sounds great. See you soon"

I stretched in my chair and forced myself up and locked Jake's file away. I went over to Ric's office, which was just opposite mine and knocked softly.

"Come in" He said, looking up at the door.

"Babe. You don't need to knock!"

"I know. Just being polite"

He chucked softly as I went round the desk and sat on his lap.

"What's up?"

"Just had a call from Morelli. They've just pulled in a suspected serial murderer. 4 bodies in two months, but he's not talking. He's asked if I could go over as a favour and see if we can assist"

"Sure. Make sure you bill the TPD for your time though. You want to take someone with you?"

"No. I'm a big girl now. I can drive without blowing the car up and everything"

Ric smirked.

"Alright missy. Enough of the sass. Just because you're all grown up, doesn't mean I trust other people"

"Other people, or Morelli?"

Ric paused for a second.

"On second thoughts, don't answer that. I'll call you when I'm on my way back"

"Love you babe. Stay safe"

"Always"


	4. Chapter 4

***Chapter 4 - The Big Smoke preps for the Yanks***

I was sat in my cube after devouring the bacon sandwich and was working now my way through a pot of the best coffee in London - Salted Caramel flavour from W Martyn in Muswell Hill* I plugged the memory stick Jake gave me with all the intel on it into the main frame, which made it accessible from the comms panel. I carried my mug through to comms and called everyone.

(*A/N this coffee and the shop actually exist btw, just google it!)

"Here's everything we have. Alec O'Garra, US special ops, mostly recovery and recon, with several secure missions which are all redacted from file. Dishonourable discharge after an incident left 3 of his team dead. Intelligence has him connected to some kind of international drug supply op and it's nasty stuff. The American's aren't taking any risks of losing him again, hence they're sending Rangeman over. Headed up by Ric 'Ranger' Manoso, they're coming with his fiancé Steph, a former bounty hunter and now Client Intelligence officer, Tank, Hal, Cal, Lester, Ram and Bobby, the team Medic. Abi, you'll be teamed up with him. He's field cleared as well"

Abi nodded.

Ollie chipped in. "So when they call him Ranger, does that mean he's military?"

"Ex. In fact they all are barring Stephanie. Seems she's in a class of her own. The rest were in the same Ranger team and have been working together ever since coming out. According to their contact, they're the best in the business"

"Fair enough. Don't trust them though. Those American's are uncontrollable once they get an idea in their heads"

"Well you'll have to put em back in line and then play nice. This cannot be screwed up"

Ollie snarled something about being good enough to manage this on his own and then stalked back to his cube.

I shook my head. I loved that man to the end of the earth and back but he still had hang-ups from the end of his M.I career. He'd been called out to Kandahar to assist in delivering intelligence to a group of Afghan soldiers who were being assisted by a bi-lateral UK/US ops team. Two of the US guys got ahead of themselves and stormed in and arrested the guy they were after but were too busy celebrating to notice he was wearing an IED. He detonated as soon as the vehicle entered the compound. Killed everyone in the vehicle and Ollie was caught in the fallout. He lost the use of his legs after some shrapnel hit his spine. They managed to remove it but damage was bad enough to take years of rehab to get him back to full strength.

The intel report blamed both sides for not working closely enough to ensure the operation went smoothly, but Ollie still held the US side responsible. This job was not going to be easy.

I followed him back to his office whilst the others continued to do file work ups and wade through the mess of intel that had been gathered.

"Ollie"

He looked up at me.

"Sorry Bec. I'm just struggling with this. I'm sure this Rangeman team are great and all but I know what the US teams can be like. Shoot first and ask questions later"

"Babe. You had plenty of successful ops runs with US teams involved, but that last one has clouded your judgment. This job has to go down smoothly and I can't run it if you're bickering"

I went and sat on his lap.

"I totally understand that after everything you've been through that it's hard to forgive what happened. But those two soldiers lost their lives doing what they thought was right at the time. The intel report found fault with both sides. So please, just try and keep it internalised. At least until we've met the team. Please?"

Ollie took a deep breath whilst he took in what I'd said. I totally got why he was angry but no amount of anger was going to change what happened. He'd had enough therapy to know that now.

"Ok. But only for you. I'm not exactly rolling out the red carpet but if it keeps you happy then that's all that matters"

"Fine. I'll take that. Let's go and see what the rest of the guys have got worked out"


	5. Chapter 5

* **Chapter 5 - TPD becomes a target***

I pulled up in the TPD car park and parked in an employee spot, pushing my Rangeman ID into the window.

Morelli was stood in the front hall when I walked through. He smiled and gave me a quick hug before handing me the file.

"Good to see you cupcake"

"Good to see you to. How's Summer?"

"She's good. She's moved in with me now. Bob loves her because she feeds him bacon"

I have no idea where it came from but a small pang of jealously hit me. I shook it off.

"That's great Joe. I'm really happy for you both"

"Thanks Cupcake"

I smiled. It had taken a long time for us to get to this point but once we'd healed our wounded prides, it had been pretty smooth sailing for us since as friends. We'd both realised that we had a lot in common but he needed more than I could give him. It wasn't pretty but he finally let me go.

"Let's go through the file and then I'll take you down to holding"

"Sounds like a plan"

"You ok? You look like something else is going on in that mind of yours!"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired. It's been a long morning already"

"Tell me about it!"

I followed Morelli through to homicide and we both sat at his desk.

I opened the file and took a sharp intake of breath when I saw the photo. Benny Martinez. Shit shit shit! How is this actually happening right now?! I had to think. Quickly.

"Joe. I. I can't work on this. I know him"

"What?! How?"

I searched my mind back to my time at the business and recovered my cover story. "Believe it or not, he worked in another department at E.E. Martin. He was some kind of merchandiser. We weren't exactly best mates but we socialised together. It's definitely him?"

"Only suspect we had"

"Fuck. He always seemed so...normal"

"Don't they always?"

I sighed.

"Anything else I should know?"

"Yeah. He was picked up with some drugs on him. Traces have been sent for testing"

I was not totally surprised he'd gone back in to drugs, but it was disappointing.

"Look. I can run a basic report but you will have to verify everything. Do you have a copy file? I'm off to London in two days so I can work on it before I go"

"London? What for"

"Some asshole drug dealer had been picked up on surveillance as being one of ours. Rangeman have been called in to haul ass back here"

"Such a jet-set lifestyle you lead these days" Morelli said with a smirk. I hit him playfully on the arm.

"I'll send you what I've got once I've done it"

"Thanks Steph" he drew me into a hug. "Stay safe in London k?"

"Will do. Actually, do you wanna go grab a coffee before I head back to the office?"

"Sure. I've got 20 minutes or so"

"Great"

We were heading back up to the front doors when all hell broke lose.

Gunshots rang out down the hallway from the front doors and before I knew what was happening Joe bundled me into a janitors closet.

"Stay here and for the love of god, do not move"

I stared up at him with one eyebrow raised knowing full well I would move the minute I could. Joe knew it to, but he tried, bless him. I pulled out my service weapon that I had tucked down the back of my waist band and checked it for ammo.

I looked up at Joe who's eyes went wide.

"What? I may hate it but I'm pretty good when I need to be!"

"Fine. Just stay behind me"

"No. You go out first. I'm gonna put an alert out to Rangeman. The panic button at the front desk will have alerted SWAT but we might as well get as much backup as possible"

Joe nodded and went to open the door.

I touched him arm. "Joe. Stay safe"

He just nodded and slowly turned the door knob.

I typed 911 into my smart watch which connected to Rangeman with my location.

Ranger POV.

Everyone's individual alerts went off. Steph had brought in smart watches which connected us all to Rangeman comms and meant we were all alerted to issues even when we were off the range. It saved having to call out to everyone and meant we all knew where we had to be and what was happening straight away.

I ran down to the comms room and turned the police band up.

"TPD building breached. Active shooter situation. Assailants unknown. At least two officers down. Requesting back up from all surrounding agencies"

I froze for a second. I knew the alert had come from Steph but it hadn't said what the problem was.

"Let's go"

Suddenly there was a melee of noise and running. The whole of Rangeman went in to mission mode. Everyone grabbed their go bags, Bobby grabbed a full med kit and before anyone really knew what we were really facing, we were all down in the garage, kitted up, comms in and vests on, piling in to the Rangeman vehicles and rolling out to see what we could do.

"Steph is still at TPD" I said to Tank who was sat up front with me.

"She's a tough cookie Ranger. And she's more than likely with Joe. She's in good hands"

"But they're not my hands. Let's get this over with and get her out of there"

"Lester. I want you coordinating any access from outside and the best routes around the building. Work with anyone who's already on site", "Bobby, assist with medical, Tank, Hal, Ram, Cal with me. Hector, stay on comms at all times, let us know if anything else comes in"

A full police cordon was in place and we badged our way through. Pulling up by an already full line of hostage negotiators and SWAT teams ready to go in when the moment was right. We all knew this would be a delicate situation.

I messaged Steph.

"Babe. Where are you?"

"front entrance. 2 O's down. 1 shooter down here. 4 loc UK"

(2 officers down, 1 shooter in front entrance down, 4 location unknown)

I went straight to the ops commander. I knew him well from other work we'd done together.

"Benson. What's happening?"

"Is the whole Rangeman team here? We'll need them to kit up and support SWAT"

"Yeah. We're all here so no problem. Lester will stay out here and coordinate with you. What have we got?"

"2 officers down on the front desk. Several reports of shots fired. Not confirmed whether that's from assailants or cops or a mix of both. My betting is on the latter"

"Steph is inside. She's upfront with the two downed officers. Looks like she's taken out a shooter as well. She said there's 4 more but their locations are unknown"

"Fine. Get a message to her to stay down. Is she ok?"

"I think so"

Several gunshots rang out just as a side door swang open and several TPD officers came out, two of them with gun shot wounds who were immediately moved to the med-evac area for treatment. My eyes flitted around looking for Steph. She wasn't with them.

SWAT quickly used the open door to breach the building and we followed them in. They'd taken 2 shooters out almost immediately.

"The holding cells and seizure lockers are in the basement. That's the last part to clear so the last two have to be down there" we heard over comms.

We slowly made our way down with SWAT ahead of us. A loud bang went off and smoke poured down the corridor towards us.

We ran into the room after SWAT who had already taken out the two shooters. Joe was in there. Gun shot to the shoulder. Whoever was in holding was dead.

I knelt down next to Joe.

"Come on. Let's get you out of here"

I carried him up to the front doors which had been reopened, as they go into lockdown when the emergency alarm is pressed. I left him in the hands of the paramedics and his girlfriend Summer who had managed to vault the barrier at the sight of him.

She mouthed at me.

"Thank you"

I didn't really stop after that. My mind went straight to Steph. I turned and went to head in to the building again but spotted her sat on the front steps with her head resting on her wrists. My breath caught in my throat when I saw she was covered in blood, her hands practically dripping in it. I ran over and she stood up.

"Ric. I'm ok. It's not mine. One of the officers had a gunshot wound that hit the femoral artery. I was doing my best to keep it pinched closed but he bled out"

I pulled her towards me and held her for a few minutes before we made our way over to Bobby who was running around trying to argue with the guys, who weren't too keen on being treated, despite that they were all coughing from the smoke bomb. Bobby grabbed me and tried to put an oxygen mask on my face. I was still coughing as well but I batted it away.

Steph stood in front of us all and shouted.

"Rangeman. You will let Dr Brown treat you now or so help me god I will drive you all to St Francis myself and ensure you're not discharged until I say so!"

They all looked at me like they'd just been spanked by their mothers.

Bobby smiled at her and mouthed "Thank you"

She turned to me.

"Ric. Please don't argue with me"

"Wouldn't dare babe"

I slipped my oxygen mask on and took a few deep breaths.

"I'm going to go and get a debrief from Benson. I'll be back"

"Babe"

As soon as she turned away I took it off again. As did all the other guys. Bobby just put his hands in the air in surrender.

Steph POV

I tapped Benson on the shoulder and his eyes widened. I was probably a mess. I knew my clothes, arms and hands were covered in blood and I was pretty sure it was smeared across my face as well. I didn't care. I was glad to be out alive.

"What happened?"

"Not sure yet and No obvious ID, but it looks like they were after something in the seizure locker. We lost Benny Martinez in the fire fight as well"

My heart sank but I couldn't show it.

"So we literally know nothing?"

"Not right now. I'll need you to hand over a team report and body cam footage once you have it"

"Sure thing. I'll see what else I can dig up"

"Thanks Steph. Appreciate it. And thanks for all the help today. I'm sorry you got caught up in this. I'm glad you're ok"

"No problem. I'm gonna get my guys back to Haywood. Unless you need anything else?"

"No, that's fine. Thanks for all your help again"

"Any time. You know where we are"

I walked back over to the rest of the team. They were all looking better. I made a mental note to see what I could find out about Benny. He must have been balls deep in something and I didn't like it. I still had a connection here and there so would track them down and pray to god they answered.

"Let's go home"

They all nodded and proceeded to pile into the Rangeman vehicles before peeling out.

I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that the day shift had picked up the slack and we were officially off duty. It was only 11.30am and we were all exhausted.


	6. Chapter 6

***Chapter 6 - Code Black faces its own drama***

Becca POV.

It was 4.30 in the afternoon and after last nights unplanned knees up we were all looking forward to signing off. The whole team remained contactable 24 hours a day but the office closed at 6.

We were gathered around the sofas going over everything we had so we could track Alec as quickly and quietly as possible. He knew how to stay underground so we were going to have to pull in every contact we had and work closely with Rangeman to be able to bring him in.

We were discussing possible hide outs when the red phone rang. It was our secure emergency line. It only rang when someone needed us urgently. Ollie went and picked it up.

"Code One. it's Ollie"

He listened intently and his face grimaced. I didn't like that look. That was the look he got when shit was about to go down.

He put the phone down and the orders were given out.

"Roll out everyone, I'll explain en route"

We got the lift to the street and Ollie began to explain.

"Some kind of incident at the US Embassy. All was normal this morning but several people have collapsed with breathing difficulties, skin rash and lack of coordination"

We blue lighted it to the US Embassy. The terror alert on high across the UK, no one thought twice when they saw blue lights speeding through London

Jake was already there waiting for us and he handed us all face masks.

"Jake. What the hell?"

"It's bad. Some kind of aerosolised drug was fed into air vents. Definitely planned"

"We were just saying there's no way this is a coincidence with this O'Garra guy turning up in the UK"

"I totally agree Bec. I just wish I could figure out what the hell is going through this guys head"

"Well, despite Ollie being a bit of a dick about it, I'm glad the Rangeman team are coming over. I think we're gonna need all the help we can get"

"Agreed"

The team followed Jake into the house where several SOCO's (scene of crime officers) were dusting for prints, and analysing the building plans for a way the drugs were pushed through the air conditioning system.

Ollie gave out instructions.

"Frank. Pull up any security cam footage. Danny, follow me for a walk round. Abi, get an update on medical status and any leads on what was the air. Lenny and Bec, get on the phone to Rangeman. Give them an update"

We all took our instructions and rolled out with them.

Frank tapped into the Metropolitan Police camera room at Old Scotland Yard.

Lenny and myself dialled into a secure call line and got through to Rangeman.

"RANGEMAN"

"This is Rebecca Blake from London. I need to speak to Mr Manoso please"

With no response from the other end, I was transferred through.

"Speak"

"Mr Manoso. It's Rebecca from Code One. There's been an incident at the US Embassy building. Something was fed through the air vents and caused several people to become ill. Including the US ambassador and his wife who were in the building at the time"

There was silence on end of the line. I waited for another minute or so. I swear I could hear him breathing but I thought I'd check.

"Mr Manoso, are you still there?"

"Yes. We weren't due to fly in until tomorrow but I'll rearrange for later tonight. It's only 11.30am here and we've all just come off a bad call. I'm not prepared to call the team back in so early. Please send me all the information you gain in the mean time. I hope I don't need to remind you that discretion is the most important thing right now"

I took offence at his tone.

"Mr Manoso, I do not need to be reminded of how to do my job. We're managing the situation and will ensure you are fully updated"

The phone line clicked dead.

"Are they all completely challenged when it comes to personal communication?" Lenny asked, watching me biting at my thumb nail. A bad habit I'd had since I was a child when I was angry or nervous. He grabbed my hand and pulled it away from my mouth.

"Clearly. What an absolute..."

I was interrupted by Ollie and Danny coming back from their walk around.

"Absolute what?" Ollie enquired.

I took a short breath and let it go.

"Nothing. I've updated Mr Manoso with what's happened. They're changing the flight schedule so they can be here tomorrow morning instead of late evening. He didn't sound too worried and just asked to be kept updated" I lied and caught Lenny smirking at me out of the corner of my eye before I glared at him.

Lenny spoke up.

"I've put a security alert out to all Embassy buildings. Whilst I believe this is a targeted incident, we can't be too careful. I've prepared a press statement that will explain there was a suspected gas leak but everyone was being checked out and are believed to be fine"

Ollie nodded.

"Fine. Looks like an aerosol of something was placed into the air conditioning vent on the roof. When it went off it filtered through all the air vents. SOCO have taken samples and prints from the spray can and will update us with results. I don't think there's much more we can do here so let's call it a day early and get to the office much earlier tomorrow morning ready for Rangeman to arrive. Me and Bec will keep an eye on updates coming through"

"Yes boss" the rest of the team chimed. Lenny agreed to swing by St Thomas's to pick up Abi and we headed out.

Jake was stood outside having a cigarette.

"We're heading home for the evening. The Rangeman team are arriving tomorrow morning. I thought you quit"

"I did"

I shook my head and laughed. I gave him a quick hug and he shook hands with Ollie before we all went our separate ways into the early evening traffic.

*Later that evening*

Climbing into bed after a long and stressful day is usually one of life's biggest pleasures for me. I'm full of food, I'm showered and I get to cuddle with my amazing husband. I'd come so close to losing him in Kandahar that I genuinely cherish every second we spend together. Tonight however, we were both in a shit mood. Neither of us were looking forward to this American team joining us. Their man looked like our biggest suspect and if they'd managed to keep track of him, we wouldn't be in this mess. I felt a beast of a headache descend over my eyes and groaned as I lay with my head face down on the pillow. Ollie did the same except he was facing the ceiling. I felt his hand on the base of my back.

"Bec. You ok?"

"Yeah. The stress of today has made me regret that box of prosecco last night. My head feels like I bounced it off a wall"

"Well you would know how that feels"

I could laugh about it now but it wasn't funny at the time. I'd had my head smashed off a brick wall in an alley way during a takedown. My vision went fuzzy as I felt warm blood drip down my face. Then nothing. I was out cold. The takedown was finished off by Danny and a couple of special ops Met officers. I woke up the next morning in St Thomas's feeling like I'd done 10 rounds with Mike Tyson. I'd had 22 stitches to close the gap. What a dickhead. He ended up in prison with a few more cuts and bruises than he started the chase with. I don't think Danny was too happy with him. If id have been awake I would have taken a few extra punches myself. Id been taking Krav Maga since I was a child so I could handle myself.

I cuddled up to Ollie. "That Manoso is gonna piss me off. You should have heard him on the phone earlier. Tried telling me how to run the operation"

Ollie laughed. "Good luck trying that to your face"

I tried to laugh but it made my head hurt more.

"Did you run all the background checks on the Rangeman team?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just have a feeling this isn't going to go down smoothly. Stephanie seems to have a talent for attracting danger. It's calmed down since she started working for Rangeman but still. She burned down a funeral home!"

"I read that wasn't her fault"

"Mmm. They nicknamed her Bomber."

"Haha, I quite like it to be honest. But we'll keep her in check. She's obviously got a natural talent. I think she'll be useful"

"I guess we'll wait and see" Ollie went silent for a few mins before changing the conversation.

We stayed awake talking for a little but but the painkillers I'd taken kicked in and I must have crashed out. The next thing I knew my alarm was ringing in my ear.

5am. Ugh.


	7. Chapter 7

***Chapter 7 - Preparing to fly***

Steph POV.

It was 2pm when Ric woke me up. I don't know how long he'd been up for but he didn't look like he'd slept much. I'd showered when we got back and passed out within seconds of my head hitting the pillow.

"Babe"

"Ric. Did you sleep?"

"Enough. Things have escalated in London. We have to fly tonight. We need to get to Code One's office by 7am UK time. Flight is 7 hours so we'll need to touch down in London at about 5am to give us enough time to clear security. We'll be escorted through"

I stretched out and yawned.

"I'll be ready. What about the rest of the team?"

"I set the building alarms to go off in" he checked his watch "10 minutes"

I smirked. That alarm was horrific but thankfully it didn't go off on the 7th floor. The guys hated it. It sounded like a nuclear attack alarm.

I was in the shower when I heard the distant sound of the alarm going off downstairs. I didn't pay too much attention. I was busy getting an alarm clock all of my own. Ric had joined me in the shower and as his magic moves pushed my over the edge, my scream was enough to wake the dead.

I stood breathless against him for a few minutes before we turned off the water and got out.

I always kept a small suitcase packed for over night stays but it looked like we'd be in the UK for a little while so I pulled together all the underwear I had along with Jeans and Hoodies, my black and grey suits, several Rangeman t-shirts, combat trousers, and jumpers. I'd checked the weather and it looked like they were in the middle of a major cold snap. I shoved my work boots in as well.

The worst of the cold had gone in Trenton and it had turned unseasonably warm so whilst it definitely wasn't shorts weather, you could get by without a coat. I packed all my toiletries in on top along with a travel hair dryer and I was basically good to go. I snuggled into jeans, uggs and my favourite hoody. The guys had got it for me a couple of year ago. It was a Rangeman hoody and had an outline of a woman holding a gun on the back and Bombshell above it. I shoved my case in the luggage lift which went straight down to the garages for loading. Ric had packed whilst I was asleep so once I was ready we headed down to 5th to have some food together with the rest of the team.

"Bomber. Boss" the guys nodded over cups of coffee and sandwiches.

"Was the alarm really necessary?!" Lester asked.

"Yes"

Ranger answered and then just stared at Lester waiting for him to argue.

"Ok then"

"Right response"

We all ate and chatted and once everyone had checked their Work stations, said goodbye to the secondary team and grabbed their go bags, we all rolled out to the air strip at Trenton. Luggage had gone ahead and was already loaded. A while ago all the Rangeman offices had pooled resources and acquired a private jet. It ensured security and meant we could skip all the usual crap that comes with public travel, our weapons were secure and since some of the guys were built like mountains, they knew they had the space to stretch out.

We all made our way onto the plane and settled in. I plugged my headphones in. I was fine with flying but hated takeoff and landing. Ric squeezed my hands across the table between us until we were up in the air and had levelled out. I breathed a sigh of relief.

I'd still got work to do on the shootings at TPD, but also wanted to stretch out so went through to the back of the plane where there were some full length seats. I took my laptop with me and my iPhone and began compiling the body cam footage from the guys. I hadn't noticed until now that they'd caught Joe's shooting on camera. I watched it happened and flinched as he fell. It all happened so quickly and the shooters were taken down. Ric's body cam filmed him running over to Joe once the gang were taken care of and could hear Ric telling him he was going to be fine and he'd get him out. Joe's face wasn't on camera but I heard him saying thank you. I tagged all the footage together and attached it to a secure email before sending it to Benson stating I'd have a full report to him soon. I shut the laptop down. My brain was swirling with everything that had happened and everything that could go down in London. I closed my eyes and focussed on Gregory Porter's dulcet tones.

I felt Ric kneel down next to me. He placed his hand on my arm and signalled for me to get up. He lay down and pulled me back down so I was laying on top of him with my back against his front. He wrapped his arms around me and we both drifted off to sleep.

I was woken up what felt like 30 minutes later by the announcement we would be landing in half an hour. At some point Ranger had made his way out from underneath me and appeared at my side with coffee and doughnuts.

"What time is it?"

"In the UK? 4.30am. In Trenton, 11.30pm"

I grimaced. Neither time was particularly attractive.

"Babe"

"I feel like we've had a crazy couple of days"

"It's about to get crazier. I need to give everyone a quick brief before we land"

I sat up and stretched out. Pretty much every bone cracked and clicked back into place. I grabbed a hair tie from round my wrist and did my best effort to tame my bed head curls, popped to the toilet, did my business, brushed my teeth and splashed my face with water, before making my way back to the rest of the team who had gathered for a brief before landing.

"Update from Code One is the US Embassy was targeted by some kind of aerosolised substance. Code and MI5 have been on scene today assessing the situation and issuing a press statement saying the security presence had been due to a gas leak but all was well. So far the press have gone with that story but it won't be long before they start asking questions. O'Garra is the main suspect at this time and until they have anything else, we won't be assuming otherwise. We'll be going straight to Code One's offices in Victoria, which is close to the main UK Agency buildings. Their team will be there along with their government handler Jake Bassett. Once we've had a full briefing from them, we'll head to our accommodation before we start work with them. Steph, do you have anything to add"

"Background shows Ollie Blake has an issue with the American Military after two soldiers failed to do their job properly and he was left without the use of his legs for over a year. So don't expect a welcome reception from him but I'm confident we can win him over! I want O'Garra brought in as quickly as possible. It's fucking freezing in London and I'm sure none of us want this asshole running around for longer than necessary"

What I failed to mention was what had happened to me and why this guy was such a twat. He was dangerous and needed taking down ASAP.

The guys blinked at me, wide eyed at the way I'd addressed them.

"You ok beautiful?"

"No, I'm tired and grumpy. Sorry"

Ranger shook his head and smiled

"Babe"

We all settled back down for Landing, with Ric squeezing my hands again until touch down.

We were met on the tarmac at London City Airport by security from MI5, who had pre-cleared our passport control and we were handed keys to two black people carriers. We were to be escorted to Code's offices by two other vehicles. One at the front and one at the back.

We rolled out in convoy. I could hear Ric swearing under his breath at driving on the wrong side of the road until he got used to it. I smiled at him.

"Been a long time since I drove on the left side of the road. It's messed up!"

"Is Batman losing his cool?"

"Never!"

I smiled and lay my head against the window watching the lights of London passed us by. It was starting to get light but the weather hadn't lied, it was freezing. I was hoping we'd get some downtime to enjoy the city. It was my first time and I didn't want to miss out before flying home.

"I'm sure we'll find some downtime babe"

"Did I say that out loud?"

"Babe"


	8. Chapter 8

***Chapter 8 - Rangeman meet Code One***

BECCA POV

We all got to the office around the same time. I got the coffee going. It was 6.45 and the Rangeman team were due at 7. Ollie set up the comms area with an overview of everything the two teams had so far, which right now wasn't much. The buzzer downstairs went and I checked the security feed.

"Guys, the other team are here. Please make them feel welcome" I stared at Ollie hoping he'd know that was mostly aimed at him since he'd made his concerns known several times since we'd been assigned to this. He just stared back at me.

The lift doors opened and the cast of the avengers stepped out. My eyes glazed over at the size of who I could only assume was Tank. I could certainly see where he got his name from.

A very handsome man stepped forward.

"Rebecca Blake?"

"Yes. Mr Manoso I presume?"

"Yes Ma'am. This is the rest of my core team. Tank, Lester, Hal, Cal, Ram and Bobby our team Medic. And this is Stephanie"

She stepped forward. "Nice to meet you Rebecca. Do you have somewhere we could set up our own equipment?"

"Of course. Abi, can you show Bobby to the medical suite and do a full inventory whilst you're there so we can ensure all of Rangeman's supplies are returned or restocked before they leave?"

"Sure" she nodded by way of reply. Abi was a girl of few words, but she was one of my best friends and one of the strongest women I knew. Having already had experience of Rangeman's limited communication skills, I'm sure she'd fit in just fine!

"The rest of you can set up any equipment in our comms area. Would any of you like some coffee?"

"Oh my god, yes please"

Stephanie was obviously tired but there was still a spark in her eye. I recognised it from Ollie. A spark of determination that never disappeared, no matter how exhausted someone was.

"Follow me to the kitchen"

I poured mugs of coffee and let them put in their own milk and sugar before giving them a tour.

"There's a full gym and showers on the top floor of the building and bathrooms on all floors. On this floor, each of us have a work cube, which can be darkened if privacy is required. All our phone lines are secure. There's a break area at the back and the lift serves all floors. I'll give you each a spare key card for entering and exiting the building. Your Eye will need to be scanned to verify identity as you probably noticed when you were escorted in. We've taken the liberty of entering that information already from enhanced pictures which came with your files"

"Now I'll show you my pride and joy. Our comms area"

I walked them to the centre of the room where 5 wide screens were suspended from the ceiling, all of which could be lowered or raised depending on height and could be used individually or all together. 3 iPad pro's sat on plinths which were plugged into a secure mainframe and images could be swiped up on to the screens. Two speaker pillars stood at each side to allow for surround sound when analysing any audio. It was a thing of beauty.

There had been some incredible advances in projection tech over the last few years and the best addition we had, which quite frankly was my pride and joy, was a room we had added, which took spacial layouts from the main comms area and projected a 3D recreation of any room, area or crime scene which were fully moveable and interactive. It enabled us to work out bullet trajectories, recreate explosion maps and move through a building without every having entered it. If the plan was available to us, then we could recreate it.

"This is all very impressive Rebecca. Remind me to speak with you before we leave" Ranger asked.

I nodded. I assumed he was interested in acquiring some of the tech. Some of it was still in patent stage but if it enabled us to assist internationally without actually leaving the London, it could be very useful.

"Shall we head back to the main comms area and go over what we have. Quite frankly, we're running low on time.

"Agreed"

We left the projection room and moved over to the screens where Ollie and Frank were standing. Everything was up in front of. We went through time lines from when Alec O'Garra was picked up to when we were called to the Embassy building. CCTV footage and interviews with people around the area had been added in as well.

Frank spoke up

"O'Garra as you know was picked up by covert US surveillance 3 days ago. His purpose for entering the UK is unknown as is how he crossed the border. He's been picked up on several cameras across the city. All Embassy's and Ambassadors Residences have been placed on high alert. All buildings will be swept and post is being monitored closely in light of the attacks on the US postal service. Whatever drug was used has left no trace"

Bobby interrupted "sounds like they've used something that doesn't hang around for long. Perfect for getting away with an attack like this and leaving no chemical trace behind"

"Our thoughts exactly. We'll continue to monitor the victims and wait for toxicology reports to come through. MI5 and Code Black are continuing to gather what we can. Might I suggest that your team head to your accommodation and get some rest. We'll get dinner ordered here so you can all join us later. Does 5pm sound OK? It's 9.30am now."

Ranger nodded. "Agreed. Please keep us updated with anything that comes in today and we'll see you later on"

The Rangeman team headed out with their MI5 escorts.

I turned to Ollie. "They don't seem that bad"

"We'll see"


	9. Chapter 9

***Chapter 9 - Rangeman settle in in the Big Smoke***

STEPH POV

Ric had obviously hit his stride already on the left side driving and we made our way through busy London traffic to our accommodation which had been sourced courtesy of MI5.

London has a large amount of Empty properties, some of which are used by Government agencies to house guests, and that's where we were heading. An 8 Bedroom townhouse in Chelsea, which from what I understood was one of the wealthiest areas in the city.

We pulled up outside with our government escort shortly behind. He reminded me of James Bond. 6ft 2, sandy hair, blue eyes and a strong demeanour. He went ahead of us and nodded to the guy sitting in the other car which had been parked out front when we arrived.

"Ben comes with the property. When he's off shift it's monitored by a 24hr security team who monitor all government owned property in the city"

He tapped in the door code and we went in, where he disabled the alarm and left the codes with Ranger.

"The property has been swept already so you're good to go. We'll be back later to escort you back to the Code One building"

He nodded, Ranger nodded back and he left.

I stood with my mouth open staring at the hallway. It was stunning. The floors were marble, the stairs ran up to the other floors in front of us. To the back was a huge kitchen dining area. Off to the sides were a massive lounge area, a formal dining room and a cinema room! Upstairs were the 8 bedrooms, each with their own bathroom.

Me and Ric took the master and the other guys sorted the rest out between them.

I was absolutely exhausted but as soon as a saw the walk in rain shower with extra jets, I knew exactly what I wanted!

I chucked off my clothes, grabbed my wash stuff from my bag and wrapped myself up in a towel before turning on the shower and marvelling at the wonder of it. Before I knew it, Ric pressed himself against my back. He was enjoying the shower as well, I could tell!

We were covered in hot water and soap suds gasping for breath against each other half an hour later. He was absolute magic, and the size of the shower room gave us plenty of space!

I shivered slightly.

"Babe"

He turned the jets off and wrapped me up a huge fluffy towel that had been provided. I dressed in shorts and one of Ric's old Rangeman t-shirts before crawling in to bed and straight in to his arms.

I lay my head on his chest and the gentle rise and fall of his breathing sent me to sleep in minutes.

We woke up at 1.30pm tangled in each other's arms with the sheets around us. I kissed his chest and he let out a low growl.

"Carlos, I need to pee"

He chuckled before untangling me from his arms and I went and did my business.

He was sat up in bed when I came back with the duvet over him. I went and straddled him, his hands resting on my hips. I stared at him for a moment. Taking him in. He took my breath away.

"You ok babe?"

"Yeah. Just thankful I have you in my life. You astound me. I love you"

"I love you to babe. Te Amo Hermosa"

"Te Amo"

I leant down and kissed him, resting my forehead on his. "I can't wait to be Mrs Manoso"

He smiled up at me and suggested we made a move.

We got up, got dressed, and went downstairs to the massive kitchen. Bobby and Tank were already down there, and the others came down shortly after. Tank had gone and found a starbucks round the corner and between him and Bobby had brought back coffee and sandwiches for everyone. I picked up my coffee and breathed in the heavenly scent before taking a seat on one of the breakfast stools, leaning against Ric, who had already sat down.

"Boss, this house is Amazing! We have to have a cinema night before we go back!" Lester exclaimed.

"I don't see why not. Maybe we can ask the two 007's on the door if they want to join us"

I tapped his knee playfully knowing he was making a joke about them.

"I'm glad we've got the extra security to be honest. I know we're all capable of looking after ourselves but being in unknown territory is going to make us vulnerable" I said.

"She's right. We'll need to stay focussed on the job. Then we can relax for a couple of extra days before flying back"

"Really?" I squealed!

"Yeah, we've all been working our asses off. It's about time we all took a little time"

"Sounds great" Tank said as all the other guys nodded in agreement.

I turned and kissed him as my own way of a thank you. I'd never had the chance to come to London, neither in my past or now, and despite what we might be facing I was desperate to spend some down time here before we had to heard back to reality.

"Wait, It's morning in Trenton?"

"Yeah, 5 hours behind makes it 8.30am"

"I'm gonna call Summer and get an update on Joe"

"Ok Babe"

I made my way to the phone in the hallway, dialled in the international code before dialling Summer's cell.

"Hello?"

"Summer, it's Steph"

"Oh hey, how's London?"

"It's Fine Thanks. I was just calling to check in on Joe"

"He's fine. Had to have some minor shoulder surgery so he's off duty for a couple of weeks but he'll live. Do you wanna have a quick chat with him?"

"Yeah, that would be great. Thanks"

She handed the phone over to Joe and I heard her tell him who it was.

"Hey Cupcake"

"Joe. How you doin'? Summer said you're off duty for a bit?"

"Yeah, the bullet fractured my shoulder blade but it's been pinned back together. I'm off for a couple of weeks and then desk duty until I'm cleared. Tell Ranger I say thank you for pulling me out of there"

"Will do Joe"

"How's London?"

"A bit of a mess but I can't talk about too much of it to be honest. National security and all that jazz"

"Sounds dangerous. Stay safe ok?"

"Always Joe"

I clicked off, feeling relieved he was OK and that he had Summer to look after him. She was perfect for him and could offer him everything I couldn't. He'd admitted to me recently that he should have never tried to domesticate me and apologised if he'd ever hurt me. I said it was ok and was just happy he'd finally realised what I'd been trying to tell him.

I went back through to the rest of the team and sat back against Ric again, with him wrapping his arms around me, kissing me on the back of my head.

"Joe ok?"

"Yeah. He'll be fine. Few pins and he'll be ok desk duty for a while, but he'll live. He asked me to pass on his thanks to you for pulling him out"

"Couldn't exactly leave him there"

"I know" I smiled.

I looked at the time and realised we'd have to hustle to get back to Code by 5.

We all bundled into the SUV's and drove back round, flanked the whole time by the two MI5 vehicles.

I tapped my card and scanned my eye and the door swung open. I held it open for the rest of the team and waved off our escorts before we all got in the lift and went up to the main floor.

We got off the lift and I was laughing at a joke Les had made when I turned to look at the team. Jake Bassett. Fuck. Jake Bassett is here. I prayed to the lord he wouldn't say anything about anything that couldn't be spoken about.

There was Chinese food laid out and we all helped ourselves. Jake got in the line behind me.

He leaned in. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

Fuck!

I took a breath.

"No, I don't think so. I've never been to London"

"Not from London. Somewhere else"

"Nope, not me. Must be someone else"

"Mmm. Fair enough"

Shiiiiiiiiiit!

Ric turned to me.

"You ok babe? You seem to be doing some deep breathing"

"I'm fine. Just enjoying the smell of all this food"

He laughed. "Babe"

I think I got away with it. Just. But I had a feeling Jake was going to be like a dog with a bone. He wasn't going to let this go. I was going to have to be careful.

We all gathered in the breakout area with our food and the conversation twisted and turned through missions and jobs and stupid things we'd all managed to do. I got asked why I had been nicknamed 'Bomber' and we all had a good laugh about the amount of cars I'd blown up. Obviously I explained it wasn't my fault the funeral home exploded and what actually happened. We talked about the case and how we would tackle it. Myself and Bec would coordinate. Ollie would go out into the field with the Rangeman team, plus Lenny, Jake and Danny. Bobby and Abi would be in standby and Frank would remain to coordinate any technical needs.

Ric lent into me.

"Think you have an admirer"

I jumped slightly. "Really? Who?"

"Jake. He hasn't stopped staring at you all night. Frankly, I want to punch him in the face"

"I have no idea why he's so interested in me. No idea at all. He said he thought I looked familiar earlier. Maybe he's just trying to think where he's seen me before"

"Babe, calm down. I'm messing with you. He is staring but that's because you're the most beautiful person here"

I smiled with a hint of relief that Ric wasn't going to punch the man and that he just thought Jake had developed a thing for me.

"He's nearly 20 years older than me. Good luck to him. I've already got the man I've dreamed of my whole life"

Ric gave me a 1000 watt smile and wrapped his arm around me.

We had our orders for tomorrow morning. I'd meet Bec here along with Abi, Bobby and Frank. The rest of the team were going to head out to O'Garra's last known location to see what they could find. After everything that had gone through my mind today, I was relieved Jake would be away from me and hopefully we'd be able to track this guy down as quickly as possible. I couldn't risk being here any longer than necessary. And I still had a call to make.

It was about 8pm when we finished up and headed back to the house. Frank had reprogrammed our alert bracelets to pick up information from Code One as well so we could be updated if anything came in in the middle of the night. All our numbers had been exchanged, reluctantly on my part since I didn't want Jake to be able to contact me but I couldn't exactly say that out loud.

Ric was going to head up to the room but I said I wanted to call my mom and check in on Grandma. She hadn't been well when we left and I was worried.

"I'll be waiting for you Babe"

I smiled and kissed him quickly before pulling out my phone once he headed upstairs. I found a small office downstairs so went in and shut the door.

I dialled a number id known off by heart for years and prayed to god it picked up.

"Benji speaking"

"Benji. It's Steph"

"Steph who?"

"Benji. Please don't fuck with me. I've got a problem. I work full time for Rangeman now. Yesterday Benny Martinez was involved in a shootout at Trenton PD and now we're in London for a case and Jake Bassett is the fucking case handler for the government. I feel like my past is coming back to bite me"

"Jake Bassett as in MI6? And Benny Martinez, the drug runner that you turned to help you at EE Martin?"

"Yes. To both. Benny died in the shootout. But I'm more concerned about who was responsible for it in the first place. And Jake is already convinced he recognises me"

"Look Steph. Calm down ok? First things first. You can't do much about the shootout whilst you're not here so I'll get someone to look in to it and report back. Jake however is a problem. He'll still know you as Charlie Hansen. And She doesn't exist anymore. What are you doing in London?"

"Alec O'Garra. The powers that be felt it was too obvious to send in the alphabet agencies to pick him up so we were sent in"

"I heard they'd sent a team over. Dammit Steph. You're gonna have to be careful. The company are looking for him as well"

"What's his game Benji?"

"A dangerous one. The intel is weak but it suggests that he's been working on a new system of weaponised drug release. It's possible he's in London to try and develop it and then sell it on"

"I'm sure you're aware that the US Embassy was already targeted"

"I'd heard"

"Benji. I don't have a good feeling about this at all"

"Me either"

"Can I use anything you give me?"

"Yeah. But keep my name out of it. I would suggest you lead the teams to those conclusions. Too many questions if you just come out with it"

"This is a fucking mess. I lost my career to this guy. My entire life was turned upside down and now everything just pops up when I need it the least"

"Look. I'm glad you called. I can help out now to try and keep your past in the past. Charlie Henson can't come back. It's too dangerous"

"I'm happy being me again Benji. If my past comes out, I'll have to roll with it"

"The company worked very hard to scrub every trace of Charlie and her mission once it was compromised. She never went to college. You did. She doesn't work for Rangeman. You do. She's gone. You're still here. It's going to be OK"

"Thanks Benji. I gotta go. Please keep me updated about everything?"

"I can't make that promise, but I'll try"

"Bye Benji"

The line went dead and I slumped against the wall. This was ridiculous. My past as someone else had been replaced with my past as myself. And now my old self was coming back to haunt me.

"Who's Benji?"

I spun round so fast my head nearly fell off. Tank was standing at the door

"Oh hey Tank. Benji is a guy I went to college with. I remembered I'd seen on his Facebook he lived in the UK now so I thought I'd give him a call and see if he was around. But he lives in Manchester so no such luck"

"Fair enough. It's late Bomber. You should get some sleep"

"Yep. This is me. Off to bed. Night Tank"

"Night Bomber"

I headed for the stairs unsure of how much of my conversation Tank might have heard. However much, he hadn't pushed it and I was grateful, but he hadn't bought my story. I could tell. I felt like I wasn't going to get a lot of sleep.

"Babe. Was beginning to think you'd abandoned me"

"Never" I said as I climbed into bed. "I'll never leave you. Ever. I promise. No matter what"

"You ok babe? You seem a little rattled"

"Yeah I'm ok Ric. Grandma isn't doing so well. Just worried about her"

"Well hopefully we'll be done here quickly and we can get you back to her"

"Thanks. I love you"

He kissed me gently. "Love you to babe"


	10. Chapter 10

***chapter 10 - Stephanie, Charlie, Charlie, Stephanie***

I'd left high school with average grades. Mostly, I'd winged my way through but just wanted more in life. I'd done well in psychology for extra credit as well as maths and geography.

It was an early Monday morning and having only graduated two weeks ago, I couldn't deal with my mother's whining at me to get a job or go to college so I went to a local college fair to see what I could sort out. If nothing else, it meant I didn't have to deal with my mother for another 4 years. Hell, I'd already run over her image of the ideal husband for me, breaking his leg in the process. It was probably time I got out of the way for a bit and stopped being 'such a disappointment" as she put it.

I went round all the stands and spoke to people at Douglass College. It seemed they had a good range of programmes and I could get in off my grades so I filled out an application.

Whilst I was there, I spotted a games stand. Figuring it was there as a way of entertaining the masses I thought I'd give it a go.

I stopped in front of the stand and was greeted by the guy behind it. I looked at his name tag. Benji.

"Hi Benji"

"Hi. Fancy a turn..."

"Steph"

"Steph"

"Sure, why the hell not"

I stared at the board for a couple of minutes. I had to use the grid to figure out a code which would let me move on to the next stage where I would be given a murder to solve by figuring out who the murderer was and then figure out where he'd hidden the body. That part was done through a memory game and then finishing up at the end, I had to plot my course on a map back to the beginning without getting caught by the traps on the board. It was timed and you got your name on a leader board. Seemed like fun. I'd always enjoyed puzzles and was pretty good at them.

The code was easy. I read the clues for the murderer and figured it out pretty quickly and found the body within 30 seconds. It was common sense. I blasted through the memory game and without hesitation worked out all the obstacles and got myself back to the start.

Benji stared at me and double checked the time.

"You've done this before?"

"Never. Why? Did I do ok?"

"OK? You're kidding right? You beat my time. I created this and you just beat me!"

"Wow. Well ok! Thanks for the few minutes of fun. I best be off"

"Wait. Can you fill in this form? We're creating a mailing list if you fancy signing up for more games?"

"Sure"

I took the pen and filled in my details.

"Hey listen. Do you have a resume? The games company I work for are always looking for testers"

"Really? Sounds good!"

I handed my resume over. It wasn't great so I can't imagine I'd ever hear anything but what the hell!

"Nice to meet you Steph"

He put his hand out for a handshake.

I took his hand.

"Nice to meet you Benji"

And with that, I left the fair feeling pretty good about myself. I'd probably got myself a college place and a games tester job for the summer. My mother would be happy to have her embarrassment of a daughter out of the way and I was happy to be out of the way.

I got up the next day and since the summer haze was well in place I decided to head out for a bit. I grabbed my bike from the back yard and cycled out to head down to the park.

I'd made it about 5 minutes from my house when the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Something wasn't right. I checked the tiny mirror on the handlebars and noticed a black SUV that had basically appeared out of nowhere. I turned right and within 30 seconds the SUV followed. I took a hard left and picked up the pace. The SUV stayed with me. What the fuck?! Probably some perv. I knew I had to get off the road so I took another hard left and cut across the back streets knowing there was an alleyway I could cut down that would take me back towards home. The SUV couldn't follow and when I got to the far end, it had gone. I breathed a sigh of relief.

I dumped my bike in the back yard and went back into the house.

"Stephanie. I thought you were going to the park?"

"I was mom but this perv in a van started following me so I shook him off and came home"

"Oh well, I guess if you would go out in tiny shorts on your bike you're bound to attract strange men"

"Thanks mom" good grief that woman! She had not a care in the world about the fact her daughter had basically been tailed by some freak who could have been a murderer. That was my fault! I stomped off up to my room and took up my thinking position on my bed. I must have drifted off as I was woken up by something hitting my window. I figured it was just kids with stones so I got up to give them some wild Italian hand gestures and bad language. Nothing was there. Expect a sticky note with some numbers on it. 17.12.

What the hell was this today? Let's mess with Stephanie's head day?! I put the note on the side board and forgot about it. I spent the rest of the day helping mom with laundry and was about to sit down with dad to watch a bit of TV when the phone rang. I don't know what made me do it but I checked the time. 17.12. The hairs on my arms stood on end as I heard mom answer the phone.

"Stephanie it's for you. A man. Why didn't you tell me you'd met someone? You'll have to bring him round..."

I cut her off "thanks mom I've got this"

I grabbed the phone from her hand.

"Stephanie Michelle Plum. You are 19 years old...don't snatch like you're a child..." her voice faded off as she muttered to herself, heading back to the kitchen.

"Hello?"

"Stephanie. It's Benji from the college fair. Are you free this evening? 8pm?"

"Sure I guess. Why?"

"I think I might have an offer for you but I want to meet to talk it over"

"Uhmm. Ok"

"Great. I'll pick you up"

"Ok then"

The phone clicked dead.

"Who was that?" My mom asked quizzingly.

"I met a guy at the college fair. He took my CV. He said he's got a job offer for me and wants to meet tonight at 8 to discuss it"

"Well that sounds hopeful. You need to get out of the house"

"I know"

I went back and sat in front of the TV with Dad until dinner was served. It went off without a hitch. Mostly because we sat in almost total silence. As soon as he was done Dad went straight back to the TV and mom went straight into the kitchen to wash up. I was left sitting at the dinner table feeling like the forgotten problem child. I decided there and then that whatever the job was, I would take it. It only had to do me till I started college, and would finally give me some decent money. Hopefully. My mind raced through all the possibilities and then I realised I should probably change into something a bit more presentable.

I ran upstairs to my room and got changed into black jeans, heeled black boots and a shirt, did the best to tame my ridiculous hair and swiped some mascara across my eyelashes. I checked myself out in the mirror. Meh. That'll do. I checked the time. Five to eight. I ran downstairs and swung open the door in time to see a familiar vehicle pull up outside. It was the SUV that had followed me earlier. Something went off in my mind. This did not feel right at all. I stood in the doorway but mom shouted at me to shut door. Oh for fucks sake! I stepped outside and shut the door. I was on the path for no more than 30 seconds when I was grabbed and bundled in to the car. What the fuck?! What the fuck is happening?! I kicked and flailed my arms but it was no good.

I was sat alone in the back screaming at them to let me out.

"I don't know what the fuck you're in to but I'm not fucking interested now let me out" I started kicking the door. Nothing happened. They just sat there in the front.

"Stephanie please calm down. I'm sorry for all the cloak and dagger stuff but that's just how we work. You have no idea what you did today but if you'd stop and breath for a second and listen. We think you'll be interested"

"What then?! What the fuck could you possibly want from me?!"

I sat there breathing hard.

"Stephanie. You passed two tests today. One with lightening speed and the other with a natural talent that takes some of our agents years of training to develop"

"Agents?" That really made me sit up and listen. "Am I in some kind of trouble? I didn't mean to break his leg, he just made me so angry"

"Stephanie. Stop. We know about the incident with the car. We know you didn't mean it. You reacted with passion and conviction towards someone who had wronged you. Another talent we admire. No fear"

The guy in the drivers seat turned around and handed me a card.

I stared at it and blinked for a few seconds like all the air had been sucked out of me.

C.I.A.

"Is this some kind of a joke?"

"No. We don't joke about recruiting into the company. Stephanie you spotted top level code within seconds of looking at the board. You're instincts helped you solve a murder and where the body was without a flinch. You're memory was second to none and you avoided every single obstacle on that board. We followed you today with two of our best surveillance team behind the wheel and you outsmarted them because you knew they were there and you knew you're area"

"I'm sorry. I'm confused. What is going on?"

"I know this is all very overwhelming but we want to offer you the opportunity to Train as an operative. We very rarely meet someone with natural talents like yours and we can't pass that up. You could have an amazing career ahead of you"

"Uhmm. I. Do I have time to think about it?"

"The offer ends the moment you leave the car"

I took a deep breath and stared back at the house for a second. My mom was staring out the window at me.

"Where do I sign?"

"We'll be in touch"

They handed me a phone and the door unlocked. I got out of the car and they drove away. I stood on the sidewalk unsure of what the hell just happened.

"Stephanie. Did they interview in the car? What was the job? Did you get it?"

I blocked moms questions out of my mind for a second when it hit me. I finally get to be Wonder Woman!

"Yes mom. They offered me the job. It's an office assistant for a game design company. But i have to go away for a little bit for training. But hey look, they gave me a phone and everything!" I said, showing her.

"Well. Good. Well done."

And with that she turned on her heels and went back to the kitchen.

"Thank you!" I shouted after her.

Within a few days I'd received a call with instructions on where to be and what to bring. And so that was that.

The company train in the middle of nowhere. It's called The Farm. We were all put through our paces. Deception, threat detection, recruiting, weaponry, hand to hand combat, fitness and defensive driving. I completed training in pretty good shape but was definitely known for my deception, sensory perception, profiling and investigatory skills. My computer skills were pretty on point to!

We were all assigned to a senior operative and I was assigned to Benji. I was one of the youngest operatives they had, finishing full training just after my 20th Birthday. As far as my family were concerned I'd been at college this whole time. The company doesn't strictly work on US soil, but we did and I was assigned to the International Drug Response Team. Anyone searching for Stephanie Plum would find a college record and the IRS would see I had a student loan and a part time summer job. My company bank account was offshore in a different name. Charlie Henson.

A job came across my desk that was to assist in shutting down an international drug cartel that were operating in plain sight. Redwing. Drug runners were crossing borders left right and centre and my job was to coordinate different countries agencies coming in to collect the ones they wanted so they could be taken back for prosecution, or killed. I'd been witness to several interrogations that had led to Intelligence about the drug rings and their links to international terrorism, fraud and money laundering. I always left the room when I was asked and I know that several suspects never made it back to their own country.

A particular part of the cartel was traced back to a company called EE Martin. It was on the front of it, a women's clothing company but the company directors weren't all they seemed and clothing shipments were being used to smuggle drugs across borders. Some of the people they were supplying turned out to be pretty high up the food chain when it came to politics so it was going to be hard to try and shut it down.

My intelligence led me to a drug runner called Benny Martinez. He was working inside EE Martin and was officially an illegal immigrant from Columbia. Me and Benji worked hard to get me on to the inside and I turned Benny with several threats of deportation to help me get more information.

As far as my family were concerned I'd finished college and was now working for EE Martin as a lingerie buyer. Since I had access to accounts, I managed to gain access to financial information that was going to bring this side of the cartel down. Years of work and several interrogations led to me being days away from finally shutting it down for good when something when horribly wrong.

I came in to work one day and something wasn't right. I couldn't put my finger on it but I woke up feeling hinkey. No sooner had I stepped out of my car when Benny bundled me to one side.

"Benny! What the hell?"

"Charlie. They know. They know someone is on the inside. You have to do something. I don't think they know it's you but they know. You're in serious danger. You have to pull out. O'Garra is here and he's out for blood"

"Benny no! We're literally days away from shutting this whole operation down! It's too late to pull the whole thing now! O'Garra doesn't scare me. He can go fuck himself before he gets to me"

"Are you crazy lady? You must have a death wish thinking this can carry on now. They'll be one step ahead of you now they know someone is on the inside. But you do what you want! I'm out!"

"Benny calm down! You can't cut out! We need you're testimony to make this whole thing stick! Let me just call someone! I'm sure we can still save this!"

My mind was going a million miles a minute as I pulled out my phone but it was already ringing.

"Benji? I was just going to call you, Someone..."

He cut me off.

"Charlie, you need to get out now. They know it's you. Someone's handed your name over and that supplier you've been tracking is there. We think he may be the one who's figured it out. Are you in the building?"

"No! I just got out of my car"

"Well get back in it and drive away fast. DEA are on a slow move in to quietly get the drug runners out and take over under the guise that the company is in financial trouble and has been bought out by liquidators. They're gonna lay you off. Steph. You've been compromised"

My blood ran cold. Compromisation of an agent only meant one thing. I was going to be locked out. Everything that could possibly be traced back to me and my work would be scrubbed. My background records would be doctored and I'd have one final payout to keep me going. But that was it. As of today Charlie Henson no longer existed. I was back to being Stephanie Orr. I'd gotten married a few weeks go and we were due to go on honeymoon once this case was over. I'd told Richard that we had a big business deal at work and I needed to be in to see it through before we went anywhere. He was fine with it. My entire life had fallen apart in the space of a few seconds.

The phone line cut off and I no longer had cell service. Company agents arrived and my car was seized. I'd be given a ride back to Trenton and dropped off. That was it.

"Benny you fucking snitch! You were too interested in saving your own fucking ass that you couldn't think about mine? You've fucked me over!"

"Charlie, it wasn't me. I was called in early and they interrogated me to see if I knew who was about to roll over. I told them I had no idea. Charlie you have to believe me. It wasn't me. O'Garra found out through someone else. I don't know who"

"Well whatever. We're both fucked now. The company are coming in to take over and I've been shafted. The last 5 years of work down the drain for nothing. See you later"

I got into the back of the car that was sent to pick me up and they dropped me off outside my house. I'd been told my story was that the EE Martin was going down and lay offs had been made.

I stood on the side of the road and watched my escort drive off. My belongings from the CIA Office would be dropped off and my life story changed in an instant.

I was in so much shock I didn't know what to feel. I got my key out and let myself in the door only to be confronted with the last thing I needed to see. As if my life hadn't hit rock bottom already, here was my husband, before the ink had dried on our marriage, playing hide the salami on the kitchen table with Joyce Barnhardt.

I honestly don't remember what happened but arms were flying, my language was as red as that skank's lipstick and several of our china wedding gifts were in pieces all over the floor in the kitchen.

I knew I couldn't go home, and I couldn't stay here so I called a friend who I knew owned an apartment building and with the only ounce of luck I had left, he had a 1 bedroom apartment available that I could take now. The company had told me my payment had been wired already so I called the bank and had the rental deposit and 3 months rent sent over to Dylan. I called Dad and had him come and pick me up with all my stuff so I could leave straight away.

After punching the dick several times leaving him with a broken nose and a fractured cheekbone, I told him I'd be back to get the rest of my stuff in the morning and piled what I could in the car.

I told dad what had happened and he said he'd call a friend of his who was a lawyer to get my marriage dissolved and he dropped me off at my new apartment.

I sat down on the sofa after he'd gone, turning down the invitation to dinner and cried ugly body racking sobs until there was literally nothing left in me. I pulled out a blanket and the duck feather pillows I'd taken from our wedding present pile and crawled in to bed.

I had enough money to get me by for another few months but with everything I was going to have to pay in legal fees for my now impending divorce, it wasn't going to last long. I'd managed to get myself a car and a new cell phone as well as a hamster to keep me company. I named him Rex.

And well, you know the rest. I bribed Vinnie into giving me a job. I should have been better at it but when you don't have the full force of the company behind you, people are less willing to come quietly so running on my own wasn't easy. Since I'd spent so long under cover, I guess some of my skills were rusty. I'd hooked back up with Joe again after turning up at his place in a snotty mess one night and then he turned out to be my first skip. Then there was the whole mess with Ramirez and Lula and then Ranger came into my life. And the rest is history. I never heard from Benji or the company again. Until now.


	11. Chapter 11

***Chapter 11 - snap back to reality***

STEPH POV

I woke up from what I could only guess had been a couple of hours sleep.

Exhausted and feeling sick I pulled myself to the shower, dismissing Ric when he tried to get in with me.

I had barely spoken two sentences by the time we got to Code's Office and was thankful to discover Jake wasn't there. Whilst there wasn't alot he would be able to do with what he knew about me whilst we were in London, the repercussions of Ric and the guys finding out was almost too much to bear. I'd kept that part of me hidden for so long, and got Ric of all people to find out I'd kept such a secret from him...I didn't want to lose him.

We went to head inside and Ric pulled me to one side.

"Babe"

"Hmm?"

"What's going on? You've been really off since you came up to bed last night. If there's something going on, I need you to tell me"

"I'm fine, really. I'm just tired and with this whole trip and my grandma and everything that happened before we left. I guess it's just all a bit much right now. But I'll be focussed, I know how important this is. You don't have to worry about me screwing it up"

"Steph. I know you won't screw anything up. You always come first to me so if something is wrong, I want to know so I can help. Everything else can wait"

I could barely look at him as I felt tears well up behind my eyes. He took my chin in his hand.

"Just promise me you'll come to me when you're ready?"

"I promise"

He kissed me on the forehead and we went inside.

Once the whole team had assembled in the comms area, we analysed what we had.

The toxicology reports had come back from the victims at the embassy and it was Anthrax but with a few added extras.

"Hal, can you bring up the DEA database. See if it's anything they know about?"

Hal nodded and stepped forward and Frank assisted.

"There's several instances of drugs cut with these chemical compounds but nothing with Anthrax. That's generally used on its own"

"Why bring it to the UK?" Lenny asked.

"Well that's the link we need to make"

"It could be any number of reasons Steph. We don't even know where to start"

"Well let's start with places O'Garra could be hiding. Have we had any luck tracing any credit card information to him, or any known aliases?"

"Now that you mention it. The redacted file you gave us had one alias. Alexander Benitez"

I shook my head. This whole thing was about to unravel in front of me and I was going to have a lot of explaining to do.

"Search another one for me first. Charlie Henson"

Ollie looked at me. "How do you know that?"

"Just trust me. I might have an idea what this is connected to"

"Why should I? If your government can't keep its drug mules within their own borders then it's"

Becca cut him off

"Ollie stop. Steph and the team have nothing to do with what happened to you so don't you dare take it out on them. Carry on Steph"

"Thank you. Just please. Try Charlie Henson first"

"We have a credit card transaction for a storage locker in Waterloo and a bank account, newly opened" he whistled "balance is £6m"

I raised an eyebrow but continued.

"Now try Alexander Benitez"

"A transaction for a basement flat in Victoria"

"So we've got two possible locations and little time to bring him and whoever he is involved with down as quickly as possible. We don't know what he's got planned. Frank, can you tap into the bank records and get as much information as you can including any CCTV in that branch the day it was opened. Is there any cameras near the storage locker?"

"Hun, there's cameras all around the city. Most of them undetectable to anyone looking for them" he said tapping away at the touch screens before images all over that area popped up on the screens"

"Add in his recognition information"

We waited for a second. The search pinged and gave us several images of Alec O'Garra. Sometimes alone and sometimes with another man"

"Do we have enough footage to check for matches on the other guy?" I asked.

"Searching now"

We waited, all in silence. I was praying silently that we got a match meaning this might be a quicker mission than we expected. Right now I couldn't care less if O'Garra came back in handcuffs or a body bag.

I took a sharp breath in when I felt Ric's hand on my back.

"We really need to work on you thinking out loud babe" he whispered in my ear. I blushed slightly.

"Sorry. I just really wanna get this guy"

"Babe. We all do before something bigger happens"

"No match on the other guy Steph"

"Fine. We'll just have to work on what we have"

I asked Becca if I could use her desk phone.

"Sure. You have an idea?"

"Always"

I walked over to the phone. I googled the number for the storage locker and with my best British accent...

"Hello. My name is Christina, I'm calling from Benitez associates. My manager has asked me to call and consider changing to a bigger locker. Would you mind if I came down to see what you might have available?"

"Thank you. Good Afternoon"

I put the phone down and looked up to see everyone staring at me wide eyed. Accents had been another speciality of mine.

"What? I was a big Harry Potter fan, so I practiced the accents in my head when I read the books". That was my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Ric gave a hearty laugh

"You never cease to amaze me Babe"

"Well that's enough standing around. Who's coming with me to the storage locker and who's going to check out the flat?"


	12. Chapter 12

***Chapter 12 - hunting the hunted***

Becca POV

Myself, Steph, Danny, Ranger and Lester went to check out the locker. Ollie, Tank, Ram, Lenny and Cal went to the flat. Just in case anything bad went down, Bobby came with us and Abi went with Ollie.

We all stayed on in ear comms so we could hear whatever progress was being made.

Something was definitely going on with Steph. She seemed to know more than she was willing to let on, and it didn't look like Ranger had much insight into it either. Whatever it was. I promised myself I wouldn't push it since she wasn't willing to share. As long as it led us to finding this guy quickly I didn't care. It wasn't my business to pry. Besides, my mother always said that everything comes out in the wash. It was certainly weighing on her mind so I was certain it would come out soon.

When we got to the storage locker, Steph introduced herself to the guys in the office and explained she had brought some of the team with her to get a better idea of what may be required.

"I'm so sorry, I totally forgot to make a note of our current locker number. Could you possible remind me?" Steph really did have a very convincing British accent!

They were very obliging. Once they left us to it, Danny picked the lock and the door swung open. It was a big locker, stacked high with boxes of what was supposed to be Cadbury's chocolate.

Ranger shook his head "Shit. There's got to be at least 20 boxes in here. Whatever they have planned. It's big"

Danny opened a box.

"Aerosol cans" he picked one up. "Their full"

"This amount of stock is enough to seriously injure or kill hundreds of people. The only reason the US Embassy was contained was because they had protocol to shut down air vents once an airborne attack became obvious. And it was on a smaller scale"

"Sounds like a practice run to me" Lester stated.

I looked over at Steph and could literally feel the anger radiating off her. There was something else. Fear.

"Ollie. Any update at your end?"

"Yeah. There's a drug lab in here. There's several plans for different buildings across london. I've taken pictures and sent them back to the comms room. We're getting out of here now"

"Great. We'll meet you back at the office for an update"

Just as Danny put the can back in the box, we heard voices. One American, one British and 2 of what sounded like Eastern European. They were flitting between English and what I could only pinpoint as Russian in origin.

Steph sprung into action.

"Everyone out. Go go go!" We ran to the end of the locker area where there was a small wall we sat behind. Before I realised what was going on, I turned to see Steph still standing there, pretending to fiddle with the lock Danny had just put back.

Ranger whispered into the comms.

"Babe. What the hell are you doing? Get out of there"

"I know what I'm doing just give me a minute"

All we could do was wait, without breathing.

Steph POV

I could feel my heart beating in my chest and knew that I was going to have A LOT of explaining to do when this was over but this was my chance to finally put this whole sorry mess to bed. The Company, the drugs, my job, my past.

An American voice boomed and I looked up.

"What the hell are you doing? This is our locker"

I recognised him instantly. Alec O'Garra.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I was wondering why the lock wouldn't open. I must have the number written down wrong"

He got right up to my face.

"You're playing with fire little lady. Step off"

I answered. In Russian.

я не буду. но, возможно, вам следует. считайте себя предупрежденным

(I will not, but maybe you should. Consider yourself warned)

/over comms/

/What the fuck? Was the Russian?/

/Lenny confirmed. "Yes. She said I will not back down. But maybe you should. Consider yourself warned"/

O'Garra was up in my face.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"You don't need to know that information"

At that, I spun on my heel and left, praying to god they wouldn't follow. They didn't. He obviously didn't recognise me. I hadn't recognised the two Russians but I felt like I'd seen the British guy before. I'd have to call Benji the second I had a chance.

I waited in the car. I held on to the steering wheel to try and steady my body which was shaking all over of its own accord. Adrenalin rush. I could feel my breath hitching in my chest. I was heading for a panic attack. My vision went spotty so I jumped out of the car and bent over when I felt Ranger's hand on the back of my neck.

The sick feeling subsided so I stood up slowly. My breath was still short in my chest. Bobby took me by the shoulders.

"Try to slow your breath down Bomber. Breath with me. In...2, 3, 4, 5. Out...2, 3, 4, 5. And again"

My breathing calmed down a little and Ranger bundled me in to the car.

"Let's get out of here. We need to know what the fuck just happened"

Bec POV

The comms were busy on the drive back to the office.

Ollie was pissed.

"What the fuck was that Stephanie? You could have blown the whole operation and gotten yourself and everyone else killed"

She didn't answer. She just stared out the window. Ranger was staring at her. Everyone else remained silent.

"Is anyone going to answer me?"

"Oliver. Please stop shouting when I'm trying to drive. Get off comms and get back to the office. We'll sort this out there"

"Fine" I heard his ear piece click.

We pulled up outside the office about half an hour later. Steph still hadn't said a word but it was obvious it wasn't silent in her head. This was about to blow up and I had no idea why. I hated the lack of control I suddenly felt. This whole mission felt bigger than all of us and I was wracking my brain trying to figure out what to do. Ollie was going to be angry but I didn't feel like Steph was ready to talk.

Her phone rang. She stared blankly at the screen.

"Babe. Do you need to answer that?"

She sighed.

"Speak"

I blinked. The previously chatty girl had gone and had been replaced by someone who had the same communication skills as her team.

A few minutes of silence went past.

"Excuse me?l...how?...when?...Fine. I'll see you in an hour" she threw the phone onto the floor of the car and went back to staring out of the window. Ranger put his hand on her lap. Did he know what was going on?

I took a deep breath and got out of the car. We all went upstairs. Apart from Steph. She didn't seem to want to move from the car. I wondered who was on the phone. Whoever it was, they were coming here.

"I'll stay with her" Ranger stated

I nodded and went into the lift.

Steph POV.

I sat there absent mindedly circling a strand of hair round my finger. I could feel Rangers heat radiating next to me. I could hear his breath. It was calm. Steady. I felt tears well up in my eyes, threatening to fall. I berated myself. What the fuck was crying going to do? This whole thing was a big mess.

"Babe. We'll fix this. Please don't cry"

I sighed, realising my musings had obviously been out loud. Again. I turned to him.

"Are you ready to talk now?"

"I have no idea where to start Ric. This whole situation is connected to a part of me that doesn't exist anymore. It was scrubbed from almost every searchable record"

He stared at me for a second, I stared back unsure whether to carry on.

The silence stretched for what felt like an eternity when he spoke.

"Your CIA career?"

I blinked and a flood of emotions went through me all at once. I went cold to the core and then flashed hot.

Stammering I tried to speak.

"Wha, H, you're not supposed..."

"Not supposed to know?"

I nodded.

"Babe. The moment I met you in the cafe, I knew you were different. I'd already run all the usual background checks but there were a few inconsistencies. Whoever created your backstop files made small mistakes. So I did some more digging. What I couldn't understand is how a lingerie buyer who spent most of her formative years growing up in a burg household had the balls to bribe her cousin for a dangerous job that she didn't understand and then sit there and look me in the eye without an ounce of fear or trepidation. You'd handled people like me before, I could tell. Your instincts were second to none as well as you're dogged determination to get your man no matter what happened. It didn't quite add up unless you had had some kind of background. So I made a few calls. My government contracts had given me connections. They confirmed what I suspected. The only thing I didn't know was what you were involved in"

"International drug response team. I handled it from the US side to ensure that international drug runners that made it onto US soil didn't make it back again without being caught. I started as a handler for international agencies coming to collect their runners. Whether the runners actually made it back wasn't my business. Some of them didn't even make it to their escorts. That part was my business"

"I was then assigned to EE Martin under the name Charlie Henson. A cartel called Redwing had been using the company as a front for years. Moving drugs in and out of the country in the stock. It was delivered to empty businesses and collected by runners who would unload and distribute. Alec O'Garra was at the top of the food chain. Benny Martinez was my CI on the inside. Then someone snitched. I was pulled and the DEA went in under the story that the EE Martin was going into liquidation and they were making lay offs. I never dealt with O'Garra directly so I'd hoped he wouldn't recognise me at all when I confronted him at the storage locker. I knew he'd be smart enough to figure out I wasn't there alone and that anyone stupid enough to stand up to him like that would be connected. It would have blown the whole thing if he'd tried anything there and then. He was smart to walk away. But he'll be looking over his shoulder now. I would recommend we monitor the locker. I'm pretty sure he'll move it all now, so we just need to watch for long enough to find out where. The phone call was from Benji McBride. He was my partner. The company have been tracking this operation and they have intel we don't"

Ric had listened intently until it was obvious I'd finished telling my life story.

"And Jake Bassett? He knows you?"

"Yeah. I handed several British runners over to him. He always seemed a bit...off to me. The transport reports we received from him didn't quite add up but the powers that be didn't seem to care what happened once they left our custody, so I left it. I'm wondering if he has anything to do with O'Garra ending up here. But my query would be why he would let this job get past him if he was involved. I don't know. Maybe I'm over thinking it"

"Babe. We'll figure out. Let's bring it up with Benji when he gets here". He took me in his arms. "Thank you for telling me. I never pushed it as I knew you couldn't say anything. I'm sorry if you ever think I should have"

"It would have made my life a bit easier but I would have probably denied it. After I lost everything I had to start again. It didn't really go according to plan, but I'm glad I found you"

"I'm glad to. We should go in before Benji gets here and ensure that Ollie Blake isn't trying to have us removed from the country as we speak"

I laughed as I climbed out of the car and headed to the lift.

I turned to Ric. "Thank you"

"Babe"


	13. Chapter 13

***Chapter 13 - Charlie Henson lives***

BECCA POV.

We got up to the first floor and as we got out of the lift Ollie immediately launched into a tirade about how Steph had compromised everything and this is why he doesn't work with other teams and bloody yanks always barge in where they aren't needed...

I shouted at him.

"OLIVER BLAKE. You will stop your ridiculous rant right now. This anti-American madness stops today. I've had enough. Yes. Steph may have pushed her luck today but she obviously knew what she was doing. You may have heard what happened but we saw it. She was totally in charge of the situation and he knew it. So you will wait until she explains everything and you will not speak again until she has finished. Do you understand?"

I was slightly breathless as I finished screaming at him and I stood there with my hands on my hips waiting to see if he pushed back. Luckily for him, he didn't. He just perched against the window and folded his arms.

The Rangeman team had gathered in one corner, clearly trying to figure out what they had missed about their team manager. Our team stood in front of the comms desk pretending to be looking over the plans that had been photographed at the flat. We were actually trying to listen in on what the Rangeman team were saying.

Lester stepped over to Ollie.

"Mate. We know what happened in Kandahar and we're sorry for what you went through. But please don't think we're all mindless thugs. We have all worked incredibly hard and sacrificed a lot to get through our time in the Rangers and get to where we are now. And Stephanie is one of the most intuitive, intelligent and sparky people you will ever meet. Whatever happened today, she would have known exactly what she was doing and what she needed to achieve. Let's just wait to see what is said?"

Ollie obviously appreciated what Lester had said to him since he reached and shook Lester's hand.

We heard the lift doors opened and Steph walked out just ahead of Ranger. She stopped short when she saw Ollie. But she stood tall, rounded her shoulders and clearly with what little energy she had left she approached him.

"I don't have the time or the energy to explain my entire life history but trust me when I say I knew exactly what I was doing back at the Storage locker. I would never knowingly put anyone in danger but I saw an opportunity and I took it. Everything will be explained by the gentleman who will be arriving here shortly but I know Alex O'Garra and this situation more than anyone here so please see it through with us"

Ollie stared blankly at her whilst he considered what he said. Taking a quick glance at me he turned back to her and said "I lost my temper because I was scared for the safety of my team, and yours. Rangeman are our responsibility whilst you are here. But thank you for explaining yourself and I agree. We need to work through this together to solve it. So let's do that shall we?" He smiled the smile of the man I loved to the moon and back and whilst slightly caught off guard when Stephanie gave him a hug, I was glad the situation had been resolved for now.

"Right. If we have another guest, can I suggest we order some food?"

There was a resounding chorus of Yes's so Lenny called Domino's and unusually they were pretty speedy. We all stood and sat around the breakout area eating and having some down time when the lift doors opened and a tall dark haired gentleman walked through the doors.

Stephanie was on her feet and quickly wrapped her arms around his neck whilst he held her so tightly she lifted off the floor. I smirked at Ranger as his face flashed with jealousy.

"Everyone this is Benji McBride. He was my partner when we worked together at the Company. Commonly known as the CIA"

The announcement was like a door bolting into place. Her determination, her Russian, her steel eyed front when she was practically nose to nose with O'Garra at the storage locker, her intuition. Everything. Our background checks hadn't shown anything but then they wouldn't have.

"Hello everyone. I'm glad to be here and I'm sorry to break up the pizza party but time is against us and I have a lot of information I need to relay so we can shut down this operation as quickly as possible. So if someone can grab me a slice, we are going to have to make this a working lunch"

Ranger grabbed a plate and a couple of slices of pizza and handed them to Benji, whispering something in his ear at the same time. Whatever he said, Benji clearly got the message and simply nodded in response. I suspect he was marking his territory when he came to Steph. Men are ridiculous!

Myself, Ollie, Lenny, Danny, Frank, Abi, Ranger, Steph, Tank, Lester, Cal, Hal, Ram and Bobby, along with Benji gathered at the comms station.

Benji plugged a USB in and information streamed onto the screens.

"Alec O'Garra was the main runner for an international cartel named Redwing. They specialised in date rape drugs at first but moved onto stronger stuff and were linked to drug deaths across the western world, but particularly the UK and the US. Steph worked incredibly hard undercover to bring one of the US's main transport hubs down but she was compromised at the Nth hour and effectively scrubbed from the CIA"

Steph spoke up.

"My cover was Charlie Henson. That's why I asked you to check under that name. We never knew whether O'Garra got my real name, but he knew Charlie Henson was not who she said she was. Someone had snitched me out so I was pulled for my own safety but my work had given the DEA enough to be able to swoop in and clean up house"

Benji continued.

"The investigation sent 23 drug runners, sellers and chemists to jail for a long time. Even Alec O'Garra went down for a while but his sentence was commuted when he gave up information on other people in exchange for time off his sentence. Unfortunately once he was out he dropped off the face of the earth. The Company picked up on chatter between some of his known associates and a little known terror group who were trying to find a drug that could be aerosolised to target a large group of people. When the chatter got louder and the link was obvious we knew it had to be shut down so we fed the information to the correct channels and that's where your two teams come in"

Steph stood up bolt straight at that point.

"Are you freaking kidding me? You knew what was going on and you didn't tell me? You involved me directly and still kept me in the dark?"

"Steph. I'm sorry. I was instructed to not make contact unless you did. We knew you would figure something was off when the incident at Trenton PD and this file turned up. The TPD raid happened because Benny Martinez was back running again and when he got caught after killing those women with the drugs he was supposed to be selling, the group decided something had to be done so they tried to retrieve the drugs he was caught with but decided to take him out at the same time. The group are getting panicky that they've been tracked down so we needed to make a move. We thought it would be helpful if the US team we sent in had someone who had some knowledge of what was going on. I'm sorry we couldn't read you in earlier. But you know what the Company are like"

She stood there staring at him indignantly. "Fine. But you could have told me. This is much more than some dodgy GHB mix. This is terrorism"

Benji explained that their intel had led them to believe the target was the London Underground. There was one plan that they found at the house that matched that, but it was ruled out for being seemingly impossible to pull off. But then I remembered that episode of Sherlock where the tube carriage disappeared from view in plain sight.

"The abandoned stations would allow them to access underground carriages when they're not in use by the public" I explained.

"Becca is right"

Benji brought up the tube map and pointed it out.

"During the Second World War, there was a munitions storage facility here, at Gants Hill. If you check archived government files, you'll find that that they would store the munitions and then move them to the trains completely underground and therefore undetected. The tunnels still exist but the entrance to the storage facility was blocked until a few years ago when some urban explorers uncovered it. It's still kept locked but that's no problem for anyone who knows what they're doing with a lock pick. We believe they're going to transport the aerosols to the storage facility and then wait until dark to move it down to where the facility meets the underground line. From there they can walk up the line and wait at the turning circle which allows trains to turn around and come back down the line. Whilst the carriages are stopped before turning they'll have a very short window to attach the aerosols to the air vents on the outside of the carriage and set timers to go off just as the trains get to capacity at Liverpool Street. If they've worked out the combinations and timings correctly, passengers won't be standing long enough to do anything about it and by the time the train reaches Bank, most of the passengers will be dead or barely breathing. I don't need to emphasise how serious this is. We need to stop them before they move the drugs. After Steph's friendly intervention at the storage locker, their movements were monitored and they've already begun moving the stock. Steph seems to have spooked them into moving up their plans"

"How long do we have?" Ollie asked.

"It's too late in the day for them to aim for rush hour tomorrow. We think they'll aim for rush hour on Thursday. MI5 have got people watching all three locations so we'll know as soon as they make a move. Tonight we'll need to make a plan of attack and tomorrow we should know more. Something tells me when no one does anything by the end of the day they'll be stupid enough to think they're safe"

We all agreed and rolled out early to rest up. We'd all be called in earlier if needed but unless we heard anything we'd be back here in the morning. I had no idea how comfortable things would be between me and Ollie tonight but I felt like we could use the extra time to air out the dirty laundry in private.

"Benji, I'm assuming the Company have set you up with somewhere to stay?"

"Yeah. It's all good. Thanks Becca"

"No worries"


	14. Chapter 14

***Chapter 14 - Jake Bassett***

"Benji, do you want to come back to our house for a bit? There's some things I want to run by you"

"Sure. I've already dropped my case off at my apartment so I've got some time"

"Great"

I needed to talk to him about Jake Bassett. We all got back to the house. I put some coffee on and we all gathered round the kitchen table.

I was waiting for a barrage of questions from the guys.

Surprise Surprise, Lester kicked off first!

"So Bomber. Russian huh?"

"Yep. Russian, Italian and Hungarian. And some Arabic"

"One more question?"

I laughed. "Sure"

"How does a CIA trained operative blow up so many cars?!"

After we all had another good laugh over my unfortunate luck with vehicles I explained.

"To be honest, bad luck I guess. Besides, when people think you're a lingerie buyer they tend not to want to kill you quite as much as when you're trying to arrest them for skipping bond. My speciality was interrogation and intelligence, so chasing down crazy idiots wasn't something I did on a regular basis, and then once you no longer have the company behind you, it's pretty difficult to operate solo"

Bobby chimed in next

"What's your aversion to guns?"

"You want my honest answer?"

"Obviously"

I smirked at Benji who could barely look at me. He knew my answer. I straightened my expression before answering.

"Guns are messy. Why make mess when you can just kill someone with your bare hands?"

Lester spat out his coffee and Bobby looked like he wished he'd never asked.

Ranger kissed me on the top of my head. "Proud of you Babe"

Benji gave me a hi-5!

After the CIA pop quiz finished we got down to business. I didn't mind reading everyone in on my suspicions but I couldn't bring it up at Code One since it involved them.

"Benj. what do you know about Jake Bassett?"

"On record? He was MI6 when you met him. Seems like he's gone over to MI5 now. To be honest, he's not really on our radar. Besides, spying on spies is frowned upon, apparently. Off record? I don't like him. I know several of the scum bags he picked up were out on the streets again within months of returning to the UK. I often wonder what he was being offered for that to happen"

I nodded as I listened.

"That's what I thought. I find it odd though that if he's involved in this somehow that he would let this case get through to anyone. Surely it's in his interest to cover it up"

"There's definitely a motive to cover it up, I agree. But maybe it's got a bit too hot to handle. If he hands the case over then it gets sorted without him getting involved directly. Let someone else take the problem off his hands"

"Cal, you've done DEA Work before, what's your thoughts?"

"He certainly wouldn't be the first agent to fall for an offer of a cut of the profits. It's always either for the money or the drugs. Since Jake Bassett has an exemplary employment record, I would suspect it's the money"

"Benji, can we get any access to bank records for him?"

"Maybe. Although he's probably covered his tracks pretty well. I can try. I'll send a couple of messages"

"Do we have any intel on the British guy that was with O'Garra at the storage locker? I'm sure he seemed familiar"

"He should do. He was one of the first UK runners Jake picked up from you"

I shook my head "I knew I recognised him. So I guess he's back on the streets. What was the point?! I'd be surprised if Jake doesn't know who I am. He played ignorant when I met him at Code One but he must have known. Plus, we haven't heard from him really since then. A few update requests and that's it. Benji, he has to be involved some how"

Ranger interjected. "Babe. I agree with you. We'll need to be careful when we move on it. He won't go down without a fight"

"Tell you what. It's still not that late. He would have been told I was coming so to be honest I was pretty surprised when he wasn't at Code to meet me. Let's give him a call shall we?" Benji suggested.

Tank agreed. "offer an update and ask if everything is OK since we hadn't heard from him. Especially after what happened at the storage locker. Maybe he has something we should know about?"

The other guys agreed so we sat silently whilst Benji dialled the number. He put the phone on speaker so we could all hear.

"Jake Bassett"

"Jake. It's Benji McBride. CIA international drug response. There's been some pretty crucial movements so I was hoping everything was still good since I hadn't heard from you. I was disappointed to have missed you at Code One when I arrived"

"Benji. I'm sorry to have missed you. Things have been a bit crazy handling the incident at the US Embassy. I trust Code and Rangeman to do the job so I've taken a back step. I'm sure you'll be in touch if there is a problem?"

"Of course. Have you been appraised of everything that's happened? We're hoping to make the raid tomorrow before this group hits their target. It seems Redwing have stepped up their game"

"It seems they have. You alone?"

"Yeah. Why do ask?"

There was a pause.

"What's your take on Stephanie?"

"The Rangeman girl? She seems pretty on it. Why?"

"She speaks Russian. Little coincidental that she speaks the same language as two of the wingers who turned up at the locker. What did your background check give you?"

"Nothing that stood out. Russian isn't totally unusual. There's a few Russian mobsters hanging around the NJ area. She didn't exactly break into full conversation with them. My betting is she just knows enough to scare people"

Another pause.

"Well I think we need to be careful with her. She can't go charging in like Wonder Woman. I can't afford for her to get hurt, or worse"

"Jake. We've got two strong covert teams backed by two of the biggest Government agencies. I think she's going to be safe enough"

"Fine. But she's your problem. I can't afford for this to be compromised"

"You want to talk face to face? I'm free this evening?"

"No. I'm busy this evening. Like I said. Just keep me updated and keep that Hen..I mean Steph girl under control"

"No problem boss man. Your country your rules. Out"

The phone line clicked dead.

"Did you hear that? He nearly said Henson. He fucked up. And he knows. If he's involved in this as we suspect and he knows who I am..."

Ric put a protective hand on the back of my neck. "Babe. Benji has a point. No one is letting anything happen to you"

"No way Bomber. Our very own super spy? You're way cooler now!" Lester joked as Ram slapped him upside the head.

"Douche"

"Thanks Lester. I'm sure there's a back handed compliment in there somewhere"

We all laughed and strayed off into other topics for a few minutes. My mind drifted back to what Jake had said.

"Maybe I should stay the the Code Office tomorrow and coordinate the raid on comms. I'm more than happy to get my hands dirty but I can't stop thinking about what Jake said. It sounded too much like a threat disguised as a warning to Me"

"Steph. We need you on the ground. Besides this is your opportunity to get the result you didn't get at EE Martin" Benji argued.

I sighed.

"You're right. Anything back on your message to the powers that be to access Jake's finances?"

Benji checked his phone.

"Yeah. A financial records search showed an off shore under the name of Miranda Julius. That's his wife under her maiden name. Not very imaginative but it's enough to keep snoopers at bay. Unless your the company"

"Do we have a balance?"

Benji let out a slow whistle.

"Few million. More than he would be making at MI5. Regular deposits in the thousands. Two that match the timings of his pickups from the US. Just after he got back. One big one that matches the time O'Garra gave up his information. My betting is he was paid to feed O'Garra the intel he needed to get out."

"чертовски круто"

Benji smirked but Ram looked at me and raised an eyebrow to question what I'd just said.

"Sorry"

"She called him a Fucking Twat"

That got a good laugh, but I suddenly felt like Jake Bassett was responsible for systematically undoing all the good work the IDRT had been doing. And I took that personally.

"Dick heads like that don't deserve a badge. Keep him away from me. My aversion to guns is strong towards him"

"Babe. Take a breath"

"Why the fuck should I? For all I know he's responsible for busting my entire CIA career. If he's been in bed with Redwing this whole time who knows what he's managed to do and who he's managed to get killed. Take a breath? I'm fucking furious. Not to mention scared for my life"

"Steph. We won't let anything happen to you. I promise"

"Some promise Benji. Nothing was supposed to happen the last time and if you hadn't called when you did, I would have been in that building probably having the shit kicked out of me for being undercover! The company is supposed to look after its own. Well you know what? The company can go fuck itself. I'm done. Fix this shit without me" and with that I stormed off to the living area ranting in Russian. It was so much more visceral than English. Good for venting anger. I forgot how much I loved it.

Ranger POV

I hated seeing my babe scared and angry. I was proud of how strong she'd been with everything she had lost, but I was worried for her safety.

Benji went to go after her but I held him back.

"Let her go. She needs some breathing space for a few minutes and then I'll go and check on her"

"She's right. I've given my entire life to the Company un yet the way they drop people the moment they get caught out is insane. I've heard seasoned agents take their own lives after being scrubbed. They leave you with nothing but a payout and a backstop file to try and rebuild your life again. And especially if you were undercover like Steph for so long, you're often left wondering who the hell you even are anymore"

"Well if you fancy jumping ship, I'm sure there's a space in a Rangeman team for you. Wherever you want"

"You serious?"

"Yeah. Drugs are a big problem for Rangeman's clients. Someone of your background could make a real difference"

"Thanks. I might just take you up on that offer. I'm beginning to wonder how much I can trust some of the people I work with. If Jake Bassett can get away with what he's been doing for so long under the nose of the biggest UK Government agency going, I hate to imagine what's going on behind closed doors at the Company. I mean, you hear rumours but if you ever question anything you find yourself reassigned, or suddenly on some shitty desk job"

"Well the offer is there. I mean it"

"Thanks. You gonna go check on your girl?"

"Yeah. Now she's had some breathing room, she might not bite my head off"

I walked through to find Steph in her thinking position on the sofa. On her front with her head on a pillow.

I lifted up her legs and sat down. She turned over and I noticed the tears that had streaked her face.

"Babe"

"Sorry. I shouldn't have lost my shit. I just hate that he's been getting away with this for so long and he's the most likely person to be behind my downfall"

"Well, You can't do much to fix what happened, but you can focus on what you can do now. We need you on this babe. If you'd rather coordinate then I'm sure Code will happily have you at the office but I'd rather you were out with us"

"I want to be able to do this. I feel like it will finally give me the closure I need. I'm just struggling with coming face to face with the ghosts I thought I'd left behind"

"I know babe. And believe me, I know how you feel. I never had to give up my identity but I still wrestle with some of the things I have done in my past. But do you know what helps me get through it?"

She didn't answer.

"You. You've given me more strength than I ever thought I had. Yes, I'm physically strong but mentally? I've spent so many years living on a knife edge wondering which day could be the day I tip over. But when I met you, that cliff I was walking along disappeared and the longer I was with you, the further away from the edge I became"

She smiled at me again as tears threatened to fall. I pulled her up and let her cry it out wrapped in my arms until I felt her stop. She sat up and as I used my thumbs to wipe away the few remaining tears and I watched her transform in front of me. Her shoulders rolled back, her eyes flashed black and her back stiffened. Charlie Henson had returned, and I was glad. Steph and Charlie were going to have to work together to finish this.

"Babe. I'm proud of you"

"Let's do this"

"What's your first move?"

"We need to inform Code of the bad news that their government handler is taking Redwing money in return for safe passage. He'll need to be taken down first as he's probably informing the wingers of our every move. Once they're in the dark then we can change the raid time and catch them unaware. This needs to be stopped before hundreds of people are killed or injured"

"Good. Let's set up a conference call with Ollie and Becca. They can inform the rest of the team. At this point the fewer people that are aware of what Jake has been doing, the better. They aren't going to take it well though"

"No. But once they see the money trail they'll be angry. Which means they'll want to take him down as much as we do"

We went back through to the kitchen. The guys all came and gave me hugs and I loved them for it.

"McBride. We need to call time on Jake Bassett. Call Ollie and Becca on their secure line and let's fill them in"

"Yes boss"

We waited as Benji dialled and Ollie and Becca listened. They argued. We told them about the money trail we'd managed to uncover. It didn't go down well at first but they got the message that he was dangerous when it came to Redwing and he needed to be stopped. The phone call ended and we had a plan.

Becca POV

"Ollie. This is crazy. I don't even know how I feel about it"

"Becca. We've trusted Jake with our lives and our careers but he could have compromised us at any time by being involved in this mess. We can't let him carry on"

"I know. I'm just worried about how messy this is about to get. Jake is special ops within MI5. He's like 007 on crack for God's sake. It's not going to be pretty"

"Message McBride and tell him to leak the intel anonymously. MI5 can pick him up and he won't be our problem anymore"

I picked up my phone and sent a secure email to Benji. I got a response within seconds.

"OK. It's done. I hate this"

"I know love. I know"

Ollie knew how much Jake meant to me and how heartbroken I am to be so betrayed by him. It was going to be so difficult to explain this to Miranda and the girls. He was their whole world and he exposed them to constant danger they didn't even know about.

At 3am I got an alert on my phone. Jake Bassett has been arrested and was being held in government custody. The alert would have gone out to both teams. I didn't go back to sleep after that. I knew what was coming.


	15. Chapter 15

***chapter 15. Zero Hour***

Becca POV.

The Code team had gathered at the office and we explained everything before Rangeman arrived. Steph came and gave me a hug.

"I'm sorry Becca. I know how much you trusted Jake"

"And I'm sorry he was involved in your career falling apart. If I had any idea what he'd been involved in, I would have done something earlier"

"No. It's ok. It's done now so let's concentrate on shutting this attack down before it's too late"

We set about planning the raid on the munitions store at Gants Hill. We'd had confirmation that there had been movement the building so the attack was going to happen at rush hour tomorrow morning. MI5 and MI6 agents would be assisting along with a small team of Metropolitan armed police. The munitions store sits between houses so this raid was going to have to be quick and quiet. We would wait until around midnight before making a move to remove as many of the aerosols as possible and then wait until the gang turned up before taking them down. There was only one man keeping an eye on the weapons so he would be easy to take out before he even knew what was coming, thus giving him no time to contact anyone.

There really wasn't much we could do till then. Code had got case referrals coming in so we would see what we could sort out on those. Rangeman called in to check on their team in Trenton and Benji coordinated with the MI's to ensure a smooth take down.

It was approaching midday so we had around 9 hours to kill before we had to get ready and leave with enough time to get across London.

The guys all decided to head up to the gym to let off some steam. Me and Steph decided to stay in the main office and keep an eye on things over a coffee and a girly catch up. We were both strong women and loved a good work out as much as the next person but even we needed a break from the testosterone sometimes!

Handing her a mug of coffee, I asked

"You ok?"

"Yeah. I think so. About as OK as I can be when your entire past gets dredged up and you have to face your ghosts head on"

"Well, we're all here behind you Steph. We can finish this. Today. I know what you mean about ghosts. Jake has been like a father to me and to find out what he's been doing is devastating"

We were sat at my desk when the doorbell rang. I bought up the front door camera feed and it was a delivery guy from interflora.

"Looks like you have an admirer" Steph said

"Probably not! It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago so probably just a late present" I explained as I buzzed the door to let the guy in telling him to come up to the 2nd floor.

Steph got up and headed over to the lift to meet the guy where she signed for the flowers and made her way to the kitchen.

"Happy Birthday by the way! When this is all over we'll have to go for drinks before we have to head back to the states" she shouted over.

I was on my way over to join her so we could get them in to a vase, when just as she opened the box, white powder burst out and filled the air around her. Her face was one of complete horror as I ran and pressed the bio attack alarm. I shouted at her to stay where she was and not to move, even an inch.

The team came down in the lift and I stopped them in their tracks, handing them face masks as I attached my own.

She was already coughing and clearly struggling to breath.

Abi shouted "Bobby, grab the cipro from the fridge. She needs it now"

Bobby was back within seconds and Ranger grabbed the syringe from him saying he'd give it to her. Her legs buckled and she fell to the floor and Her skin was coming out in red blotches. Abi explained from a distance that the needle needed to go deep into the muscle so it was going to hurt. We all watched her flinch as it went deep into her leg and Ric sat there and cradled her.

"Babe. Just try and slow your breathing down. Stay calm"

Her breath was raspy, she could barely speak and tears were in here eyes.

There was literally nothing we could do. We all stood there for what felt like hours until I heard the ambulance siren wailing to a halt outside.

Ric shouted he was going to go with her and we cleared the way for him to carry her downstairs to the waiting ambulance where she was whisked away.

The bio weapon protocol had been activated and a chemical tent had been set up outside. We all showered and got checked for symptoms but me and Ranger were the only ones who had a bit of a cough. I was given cipro and cleared from going to the hospital with the orders to take myself should it get any worse.

Ollie turned to me. I had tears in my eyes.

Ollie grabbed my shoulders.

"Bec. Don't. This isn't your fault. It could have been any of us"

Benji approached me.

"We were just on our way back down when my phone rang. The agents who arrested Jake found a series of messages. He knew we were coming for him and he instructed that Code be targeted"

"I don't get it. We're all involved in this. He handed us this case for God's sake. He could have just passed it over and no one would have been any the wiser"

"Our working theory is that the whole thing got too hot to him for handle so he figured we could all just stop it from happening and he wouldn't have to be involved directly. He must have been facing questions after Steph confronted them and he just handed her over"

"Well. If he wants to put us all in danger then we need to finish this. Now"

I turned to the Rangeman team who were obviously struggling with what had happened to Steph.

"She's in good hands guys. The best way to help her now is to stop this attack and we can do that if we move out now. Tank and Benji, make the necessary calls and we'll roll out"

The guys nodded and then the office went into a rush of activity as we all suited up and gathered in vehicles outside. Adrenaline rushed through all of us and you could feel it in the cars.

The lead vehicle consisted of me, Tank, Lester, Bobby and Danny. The second was Ollie, Ram, Cal, Hal, Lenny and Abi. Benji followed up in his own vehicle and we rolled out in convoy picking up two armed police teams on the way. This was much earlier than we'd planned but I felt like we had the element of surprise on our hands.

Tank's phone rang.

"Boss. How's our girl?"

There was silence whilst he listened. He nodded and then explained what we were doing before finishing the call.

"How is she Tank?"

"Not great. They have her on high oxygen therapy and a cipro drip. Her breathing is shallow there's some fluid on her lungs. She's got minor chemical burns in her throat. It's definitely come from the wingers. Next 24hrs are critical. Ranger has been treated for minor exposure"

I did all I could not to lose control of the car whilst I swore and every muscle in my body tensed. I was angry, hurt, disappointed..aaww hell, I was fucking raging.

"Ranger is with her. He'll keep us updated but he's hopeful. So let's hang on to that and finish this shit once and for all"


	16. Chapter 16

***chapter 16 - it all goes down on the underground***

Ollie POV

We soon arrived at the top of the road where the munitions store sat. We drove a little further and all the vehicles involved pulled to a stop in a small recreation ground. We would have to be careful since it was almost completely residential around here and the less they knew what was happening the better. The last thing we needed was innocent bystanders being caught in crossfire.

We had Code and Rangeman, Benji McBride, 5 armed police and one agent each from MI5 and MI6. Frank had stayed behind at Code to assist with what was happening there and to remain on comms. He had set up a small comms station upstairs in the gym where he'd had been joined by other agents and officers.

"Comms check"

"Loud and clear boss" Frank responded. "We've got your trackers on screen. Send in the remote sensor first and that will tell us who's down there"

"Got it"

We all made our way over to the entrance of the munitions store. We quickly dealt with the winger who had drawn the short straw of guarding the entrance. He would be out for the count for a while and an armed officer took him back to the car.

Danny placed the small remote sensor through a grate at the bottom of the door and drove it down into the tunnel.

"Stop it there Danny"

"What are we looking at Frank?"

"Heat sensors are showing 5 people down there. A lot of movement but it's mostly down at the far end closest to the entrance tunnel for the underground. Looks like they're getting it ready to be attached to the first waiting train. Looks like they've moved up their plans to rush hour this evening"

"Then let's change their plans shall we?"

One of the armed officers pulled the plug on a smoke canister and sent it rolling down the grate. We heard shouting and that was our cue.

Tank took the door out and went down. We'd already prepared ourselves to work through the smoke so picked up the two Russians first, then another American and the British guy from the storage locker. That just left Alec O'Garra.

"Anyone got eyes on O'Garra?"

The rest of the team took the other guys who were now under arrest back to the holding point by the cars.

"Repeat. Anyone got eyes on O'Garra? It's not a big space down here so where the fuck is he?"

The replies came back. "Nothing"

The whole team quickly made there way closer to the tunnel entrance. I could feel the adrenaline punching through me. My heart was beating hard and fast.

We all got down to the tunnel entrance which led to a turning circle where trains would wait to turn around before going back down the line.

From the wind coming off the tunnel it seemed a train was on its way in. We had to stop him. Fast.

One of the armed officers stepped forward with night vision and quickly looked both ways. Silently he placed his fist in the air, signalling to hold. Several small hand movements showed our target was to the right, about 50 paces down. He took a step back and quietly explained the train was already at its holding point so this had to happen now.

He stepped forward again and the signal went up.

We charged down the tunnel and shouted at him.

"Alec O'Garra. You are under arrest. Step away from the train and put your hands in the air. Do it now"

He was crouched by a small part of the train carriage which obviously connected to the air vents on the carriages. He looked up and grinned like he'd won. When he reached for his waist band, I didn't hesitate. I took a shot and it went in. Right between the eyes.

He slumped back against the wall. I stood back and let the rest of the team head forward to secure the area.

Tank stayed back with me.

"Good job Ollie"

"Thanks Tank. Do you have a real name?"

He laughed and nodded. "It's Pierre. Tell anyone else on your team and I'll hunt you down"

"Hate to say it mate but that's on comms now. The whole team knows" Frank said.

"Bloody British spies"

"The best in the business"

"I have no doubt on that"

Once O'Garra's body had been removed from the tunnel and the aerosols secured, we made our way back out to the cars. The agents and the armed police team went their separate ways, taking the wingers and O'Garra's body back with them. We headed back to Code.

Frank had called to say they were back in operation from the second floor.

Tank called to fill Ranger in at the hospital. Stephanie had stabilised but it would be a few days before she would be able to leave the hospital.

Once we were back we all collapsed into the breakout area.

We were exhausted!

Frank came over carrying a box of Budweiser.

"Enjoy guys!"


	17. Chapter 17

***chapter 17 - Ranger watches over Steph***

(Runs concurrently with chapter 15)

Ranger POV

It was like slow motion. We'd been upstairs in the gym when an emergency alarm went off across the building.

Abi shouted "that's the biochem hazard alert"

I felt heat flash through me. Stephanie.

We ran down the stairs rather than waiting for the elevator and skidded to a halt when Becca met us at the door to the first floor. She chucked breathing masks at us and her face told me everything I needed to know. I didn't care what I got exposed to, I just needed to hold her.

I practically slid across the floor towards Steph who's legs gave way just as I got to her. I caught her as she sank to floor, struggling to breath. I could see the fear in her eyes.

Abi shouted at Bobby to grab cipro from the fridge. Cipro is generally used to counteract the effects on Anthrax so it was her best chance. Bobby threw the needle at me and Abi explained it needed to go into muscle. I said sorry and jabbed it straight into her thigh. I felt her body flinch but it was nothing compared to her breathing which was now raspy and shallow. I could feel what was left of the drug in the air irritating my skin and my eyes, but I didn't care.

"Don't...leave...me"

"Just try and slow your breathing down babe. I'm right here" I kissed her head and held her as upright as possible as tears ran down her face.

What felt like hours passed until the ambo arrived. I carried her down to meet them and jumped in the back before they could argue. We were on a blue light escort all the way along with our own lights and sirens.

We were rushed through and I was stopped at the door when they took her through.

A nurse put her hand up to me.

"Let the doctors do their job. You come with me and we'll get you looked at"

My eyes were streaming and my skin was angry. I was stripped of my clothes and given an eye bath and my skin was wiped down.

I could barely keep focus as they worked on me. All I could think of was my babe.

I was given some scrubs to put on and was led to family room where I was told to wait for news. I didn't do waiting very well. My patience was running on empty and being told to just wait wasn't working for me. I paced the room with every thought possible going through my head

Was she going to live?

What was happening with the case?

What damage had been done?

Why wasn't I there?

Why wasn't it me?

I was totally lost in thought when a nurse interrupted me.

"Mr Manoso. We've managed to stabilise her. She'll need to be on high level oxygen and Ciprofloxacin for at least 48 hours as she has fluid on her lungs and some burns to her nose and throat. The next 24 hours will be critical, but she's being closely monitored. You can come and sit with her if you'd like?"

"Yes. Thank you"

I hated this feeling. I felt totally lost and out of control. There have been so many times when I've been there to pick up the pieces. To save her. And now I'm just sitting with her watching her sleep with machines bleeping away feeling completely helpless.

I must have dozed off as the next thing I was aware of was my babe moving next to me. She tried to speak.

"Ric"

"Babe. Don't speak. You want some water?"

She nodded.

I picked up the cup of water on table and lifted it up to her. She took a couple of sips and lay her head back down, coughing.

I squeezed her hand.

"Babe. Just try and breath"

"My lungs feel like they're on fire"

"Just rest. I'm not going anywhere"

"Favour?"

"Anything"

"Kill them all"

"Babe. The team are on it"

She nodded and went back to sleep.

I sat with her hand in mine as the hours passed. Then the call came in that they'd arrested everyone, and O'Garra was dead. Ollie went straight for the kill zone. I would have done the same.

The doctor came in and did a few checks and was happy with her progress.

"She'll be ok. A few days rest on the cipro drip and she'll be ok to go. She may find a lot of movement difficult as she'll be out of breath quickly but that will ease on its own"

"Thanks Doc"

"No problem"

I stayed right by her side all night.

I woke up the next morning with her running her fingers through my hair.

"Ric" She croaked.

"Babe. How are you feeling?"

"Like I snorted lava. When can I get out of here?"

"Another couple of days babe. They want to make sure your breathing remains stable. You can't fly until they're sure"

"Well that sucks"

"Ollie took the kill shot. O'Garra is dead and the rest of them are in custody. Jake Bassett has been charged with enabling terrorism, corruption and blocking the course of an investigation. He won't be working again any time soon"

"He doesn't deserve to"

"He admitted giving you up. O'Garra knew someone was closing in on him so he paid a few people to give up

Information. But since you're investigation was one step ahead, O'Garra was arrested before he could take you out"

"подонок"

"Babe?" I knew Russian reasonably well but hadn't recognised that word.

"Scumbag"

I laughed. Even when she was hurting she still kept her sense of humour.

"I was so scared I was going to lose you. You stopped breathing in the ambulance and they had to shock you. I felt so helpless"

"Not even Anthrax was gonna stop me from marrying you"

She laughed but it caused her to cough again.

"Just rest Babe"

"I hate resting. I get so bored"

"I know. But if we want to spend some time in London before we fly back, you need to behave!"

"Ok. You got me. I'll rest"

The rest of the team and everyone from Code One came by later on once they'd done all the required paperwork and sat with us for a while. Doctors came and went and continued to be happy with her progress. My babe was strong.

Benji stopped by on his way to the airport.

"Stephanie, Charlie, Charlie, Stephanie!"

"Benji. Thank you for everything you've done"

"No problem. And thank you! You're amazing and all your hard work finally paid off. Don't suppose you fancy rejoining the company?"

"No, you're all good. Besides, I've kind of got a thing for my boss. But, don't tell him"

Benji barked with laughter.

"I understand. Wouldn't be the same without me anyway"

"You're leaving?"

"Yeah. I've got a thing for the boss"

"McBride?"

"Ric. Benji is gay. He's always had a thing for Cuban men!"

"Well, this Cuban is taken. But I'm sure there's plenty of options! And I'm sorry for warning you off Stephanie when we first met. Guess my gaydar was a bit off"

"No problem man. I'd defend her to the end of the earth. I totally get it!"

"Carlos! You warned him off me?"

"Ermm. Yeah. Sorry"

Stephanie coughed her way through another laugh and Benji took that as his cue to leave.

"Steph. Get well soon ok? And Ranger, I'll be in touch to sort out paperwork"

I shook his hand.

"Sure. You have my number so just keep me updated"


	18. Chapter 18

* **Chapter 18. Epilogue - A few days later***

Steph POV.

After I was finally let out of the hospital, We gathered at Code One's Office to say goodbye to the team before spending two days in London on some downtime.

The US ambassador was there to say thank you to us all for everything we had done. Code's new government handler was also there to say his Thank you's. It was nice to be appreciated.

I stepped forward to Becca.

"Thank you for everything. We couldn't have done this without you and you're amazing team"

"We did it together"

We hugged each other and I moved to Ollie to give him a hug as well.

"Does that mean you don't think us American's are that bad after all?"

"Well you lot are ok. You can come back any time"

"After this trip? I don't think I'll be ready for a repeat of this any time soon"

"I don't blame you. It's not always this exciting, I promise!"

"Glad to hear it. If any of you are ever in the US, please let us know"

"Sure!"

We all said our goodbyes and headed back to the house. We were finally going to get that pizza and movie night we'd all been desperate for. And there was only one film I wanted. Ghostbusters!

*THE END*


End file.
